The PlayStation 2’s secret Dragon Quest game
If you’re a fan of the Dragon Quest series, there’s a game with the same style that you’ve probably never played. The reason why I call it a secret Dragon Quest game is because it’s tucked away inside RPG Maker 2. Is it worth playing?
RPG Tsukuru is a series that continues to this day. Each game provides you with assets, tools, and a customizable battle system so you can make your own RPGs. The series is best known for its PC software, but it had games exclusive to home and handheld consoles. RPG Tsukuru 3 for PlayStation was released in North America as RPG Maker. The game received strong reviews for its flexibility and ease of use. RPG Maker 2 for the PlayStation 2 was the complete opposite. It was criticized for its complex interface and overwhelming number of options. However, it remains unique to this day because it allowed players to create 3D RPGs.
Enterbrain included Fu-Ma so players could see what RPG Maker 2 was capable of. The game’s design and scenario were done by Kazunori Orio, a writer for many Dragon Quest games. Fu-Ma is classic Dragon Quest in nearly every way. You explore a fantasy world and fight monsters using a first-person turn-based battle system. You strengthen your party by leveling up and obtaining better equipment. You traverse an overworld to reach new towns and dungeons. You rest at inns and revive fallen allies at churches. In the story, you’re the son of a family that operates an inn. You discover a mysterious vase left behind by two thieves. Turns out, it contains Jadece, a demon king who will be set free if the seal isn’t renewed. Your objective is to gather the three Tears of Power scattered throughout the world.
At first, Fu-Ma was surprisingly difficult. I couldn’t get far in the overworld because of how often I was thrown into battles. The camera was too close, and I ran into several dead ends. As a result, I would lose my sense of direction. Another issue I had with the game was how some characters would leave me hanging. After obtaining the vase, I was tasked with bringing it to a king in a nearby castle. I showed him the vase, but he wouldn’t tell me what to do next. In another instance, a village elder told me that a man had one half of a key. The man wasn’t in the village. He was “somewhere out there in the world”. Fu-Ma starts out linear, but with a ship you can sail anywhere. When a character left me hanging, I had a whole world open to me. Where was I supposed to go?
Underpowered and lost, I decided to use old school tactics to progress in the game. I leveled up quickly by repeatedly winning battles. To figure out the world, I marked down important locations that didn’t appear on the in-game map. Unfortunately, my party was still weak and couldn’t defeat two bosses guarding the Ocean Tear. I needed a fourth member. The game has three high level party members that can be recruited by collecting their respective dolls. The trickiest dolls are on places that are high and out of reach. To grab them, you make yourself bigger by using a giant hammer from your inventory. It’s an odd solution but seeing your character tower over everything shows the versatility of RPG Maker 2. Recruiting these party members is an optional activity, but it seems essential to progressing in the game. After gathering the three Tears, I placed them at the grand shrine, but Jadece escaped anyway. This scene is impressive because it pans the camera in a 3D environment, something even the current PC Makers can’t do without the use of plugins.
Jadece is free and the sky is dark. You can fight him or see everyone’s reactions. Nearly every resident in the game’s towns has something to say about the darkened sky. This is one of my favorite aspects of Fu-Ma. Characters can have different dialogue depending on where you’re at in the story. Some characters will even react to you differently if you used the giant hammer. Jadece’s castle is a standard dungeon, but it contains the best effect in the game. The last room has a large painting of an evil castle. You push a block, hop onto it, and walk into the painting. Your character shrinks to make it seem as if its traveling to the castle. The painting is a photo and is a rare use of RPG Maker 2’s most underused feature. The PlayStation 2 had middleware technology called Picture Paradise. It allowed you to connect a compatible Sony camera to one of the PS2’s USB ports. In RPG Maker 2, you can upload photos and use them in your project as a visual effect. But the only cameras that seemed compatible were the DSC-P1 models. I haven’t seen another RPG Maker 2 game use Picture Paradise.
The showdown with Jadece consisted of three consecutive battles. In the first one, his explosion spell could damage my entire party. One of my party members needed to reach level 20 so they could learn group healing. I spent at least an hour defeating monsters for experience points. Honestly, I thought the final battles were too difficult. If you’re going to play this game, get your party to level 20 and recruit one of the three optional characters.
Fu-Ma is a great showcase for RPG Maker 2. For the most part, it’s also a game that’s fun to play. I enjoyed the quaint dialogue of the world’s inhabitants. When I figured out the layout of the map, discovering new locations was a delight. But there were plenty of things that detracted from my experience. The random encounter rate was so high, I lowered it by editing one of the game’s settings. The ship allowed me to go anywhere, but the sea contained monsters that were much stronger than my party. When a character left me hanging, I had no idea where to go next. I subsequently had to put up with the random encounters while traversing the overworld. Lastly, the final boss didn’t need to be three separate battles, but it was a tense showdown with a dramatic finish. I had one final attack, and it seemed unlikely that my remaining party member would survive the next turn. The attack was a success, and I won the battle. But having to spend so much time leveling up so I could stand a chance against the final boss was not fun. So, is Fu-Ma worth playing? If you want a a classic Dragon Quest game with 3D graphics, then yes. If you’ve played every Dragon Quest game, Fu-Ma is at least worth trying. But if you don’t play it, are you missing out? No. It started rough, got enjoyable, then became tedious at the end.
Fu-Ma staff credits:
Game Design and Scenario: Kazunori Orio
Game Design and Scenario Assistants: Rio Shiina, Tetsuya Kawasaki, Naomi Fukuoka
Director: Tadahiro Sato
Assistant Director: Akira Maeda
Supervisor: Hiroaki Azumi
Producer: Takeshi Kubo
Character Image: Ken Kasahara
Sound Program: PureSound Inc
Sound Composer: Hayato Matsuo
Logo Design: Tomio Fujisawa
