Rated 5.00 out of 5 stars 5 Reviews
Shiren The Wanderer (Nintendo Wii)
For a thousand years, a princess has slept inside the Karakuri Mansion. When Shiren's former master bestows upon him the Karakuri key, he quickly finds himself entangled in a millennium old mystery, wandering through past and present to unravel the story of the girl and vanquish an ancient, lurking evil. This latest entry in the legendary Shiren series is one of the most addictive, rewarding, and endlessly replayable games on Wii!
Shiren The Wanderer (Nintendo Wii) Reviews
Is Shiren the Wanderer worth dusting off your Wii? Yes!
The game is a roguelike; don't let the publisher tell you any different. It boasts random dungeons, a cohesive story and a unique assortment of items, equipment, status effects and upgrades to keep your interest. It's a throwback to the old-school approach to gameplay: the graphics are nice but they are just there to get you involved long enough to learn the mechanics. The sound stands on it's own and is quite good.
Unlike the DS version death doesn't mean starting over from scratch. If you are playing on Easy mode you keep your level and all your stuff. If you are playing on Normal mode you keep your level but lose everything that wasn't in the bank/storage. You can then replay some of the old dungeons to replenish your stock, much like starting over worked in the DS version. Having the option to march straight back into the place you died unprepared almost seems moot, but then again if you put some nice things in the bank you might not want to bother backtracking. Regardless, the fact that you can save anywhere on the main map and freely return to the storage/shop/bank areas from any overland map area makes it much friendlier.
The difficulty steadily ramps up. The dungeons start out like tutorials but after a few hours they become quite pleasantly hectic. You'll learn the rules the hard way in this game, but trial and error is a great deal of the fun. Once you beat about 5 bosses you'll start feeling confident, and then the real game starts. Will you really be prepared?
Good luck, and consider investing in rice balls whenever possible.
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Shiren the Wanderer isn't like most RPGs out there; you can't just level grind and expect to get by. There are practically no easy battles in the later dungeons, you've always got to be on your toes and think one step ahead. Item management plays a central role.
This is my first roguelike, and although I've not played one before, I can tell that it's the real deal, not a "roguelike on training wheels" as some were fearing. While you can keep your levels for most of the main story, the post-game dungeons are a different story. And even when only your items are lost upon death, it's still more challenging than 95% of RPGs out there. (I should mention, though, that it's never challenging in a frustrating way. There's always a drive to go right back into that dungeon you just died in and try again.) No two dungeon trips are ever the same, so the game looks to be endlessly replayable.
I believe Chunsoft have accomplished what they probably sought out to do: Satisfy the hardcore roguelike faction while also opening doors to the general RPG fan. Wii owners don't have much of a selection when it comes to any sort of RPG, especially those of the turn-based type. Thankfully, we now have at least one excellent title in the genre to cherish.
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Although this game lacks in fantastic graphics, Atlus delivers another exciting RPG, something that the Wii is in hopeless need of. Reminded me of the Persona Series in gameplay.
Try it out.
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