The Cruel King and the Great Hero Reviews
This RPG feels as if you’re reading an illustrated fairy tale. The story is heart warming and full of cutesy little characters. But something feels off in terms of the recommended consumer pricing in comparison to the very short play time the game provides. Either if the price could be lowered or an extended play time may be required to justify the current pricing.
Review in Korean | Read full review
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a gorgeous looking JRPG, but its slow pace and amount of random battles make it a painful experience.
The Cruel King and The Great Hero could have been the right evolution of its predecessor, but for every step forward there's one back. It remains, however, a nice fairy tail to play with the youngest.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Cruel King and the Great Hero combines an excellent storyline and an exceptional art-style with a significantly simplified gameplay, which wouldn't be an issue if not for the tons of very repetitive fights that end up constantly interrupting the narrative flow. Perhaps more exploration and less combat would have served the game better, but unfortunately that's not the case.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a delightfully innocent game that looks to bring in newcomers to the JRPG genre with its simplistic controls. However, I feel veterans of the genre will simply find this game way too easy with its linear and basic approach. There just isn’t enough depth within its core gameplay and becomes repetitive real quick.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a sincere production, which aims neither to distort the canons of the turn-based role-playing game, nor to amaze with who knows what technical innovation.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a wholesome, endearing JRPG fans of all ages will find both fun and meaningful.
The Cruel King and The Great Hero is as classic as JRPGs get, but its little touches of modernisation truly shine through. As the gorgeous art style and chirpy soundtrack complement the thought-provoking battle system with grace. Some story and character moments are left wanting, and there are a few missteps with the general gameplay. But overall, The Cruel King and The Great Hero is a timeless 15-hour adventure that demands at least one playthrough.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a gorgeous looking storybook RPG with an engaging story if a little lighthearted. However, the game doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, and with the pacing issues around the random battles, it can get repetitive quickly and become a little bit of a slog to reach the end.
If your main focus is a highly polished, big-budget arrangement with lots of action — and there’s nothing wrong with that — this game will likely be underwhelming for you. But if your priorities lie in story, a more nuanced perspective and an experience beyond just the game within a game, then The Cruel King and the Great Hero is worth picking up.
A beautifully handcrafted JRPG, The Cruel King and the Great Hero is more great than cruel.
Is The Cruel King and the Great Hero perfect? No, but it is adorable, heartwarming, and you’ll want a box of tissues on hand to cry into at a few places. It’s a lighthearted JRPG and I for one am very happy to have been able to sit down to it and look forward to the next fairy tale-like adventure from Nippon Ichi Software as they between this and the Liar Princess and the Blind Prince have a really good thing going.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a very delicate game, a particular experience, which does not want to upset any such style and faces a fairytale tale with calmness and serenity.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The utterly unremarkable gameplay makes this fable tough to recommend, even if it perfectly captures a sense of childlike innocence through the storybook visuals and tone.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is more a fairy tale than a game about young Yuu and her way of becoming a hero. The bookish fairy tale atmosphere gets enhanced through sweet graphics, handdrawn art and a great fitting soundtrack. Even though the turn based RPG gameplay is nothing new and to some degree even somewhat boring the game shines in the story department. The emotional side of things after the story picks up steam motivates to play through even grindy and tedious walking sections with too many random battles. If you like a good story that goes to the heart this sugary
Review in German | Read full review
While The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a beautiful game and aesthetically unique compared to other RPGs, it's the core gameplay and super slow pacing that stops this from being something I'd recommend over more standard RPGs that do almost everything else better. I'm sorry, Yuu, you're probably one of the most adorable protagonists I've ever played as, but that just isn't enough!
The character designs can only be viewed at very specific angles and are not emotive. It is a major drawback to the style chosen. Even with the better aspects of the art supporting the game; The Cruel King and the Great Hero is ultimately a very hallow and bare bones RPG with severe pacing issues.
I really love the relationship between the King and the Hero. From the very beginning, you understand how much he loves the little girl. As you take Yuu out into the dangerous world, the dragon can be seen in the background watching over her. He even helps in battle, unbeknownst to Yuu. As a father, this really hit home with a four year old. Wanting your kid to go out on their own, but also watching from the shadows and doing what you can to help, whether they know it or not resonated deeply with me. There are twists and turns to the relationship, and it’s really something worth checking out if you’re a parent.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a pure charmer of an RPG. The playful storybook art and lovely soundtrack strike an adventurous tone, and all the characters from Yuu and the Dragon King down to the random monsters are adorably designed.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a fine example of Nippon Ichi Software's creative ability. It's a small-scope, low-budget RPG, but its consistent design makes it an engaging fairytale. The title is especially recommended for fans of simpler RPGs and children's narratives that present beautiful moral discussions.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review