Review of Alphadia

[1oldtymer]

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Why Play Alphadia?
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What kind of pleasure can a player expect from Alphadia? Before I can answer this, I have to explain that Alphadia is actually two games, a normal and a bonus or optional. The two games offer distinctly different experiences.

The normal game concludes with a battle against the "final" boss, whereas the optional game ends with a battle against the "ultimate" boss, named Apocalypse. This bonus game, unlike most Kemco android rpgs, is unlocked from the beginning and can be completed prior to the battle against the final boss. So I will use the following terminology in order to discuss these two phases of Alphadia: bonus/optional will be used interchangeably; the final boss belongs to the normal game, and Apocalypse is the boss of the optional game.

The normal Alphadia is a simple game with minimal strategy or tactics, not much grinding, and not much more than a repetitive exercise in mashing the "auto" button for battles. And you will be mashing that button, as the random encounters occur on average every 6 seconds (assuming continuous moving), with no item or skill available to block or reduce this frequency. You can, however, almost always flee without penalty (until near the end of the game).

The silver lining here is that you battle so often you will not need much, if any, extra grinding, although without doing so the battle against the final boss, although winnable, will be difficult. Some of the interface and design characteristics contribute to the dull feel of the game, and are typical of these older Kemco games (I first played Alphadia in January, 2013).

There are no "warning" flashes of a looming random encounter, no mini-maps for dungeons, no difficulty settings, no teleport or quick exit from many dungeons (but they are usually easy so this isn't an issue), there is only the 4-way controller (no touch and go), no visible marker on the NPC indicating who might have a subquest, the reward for a subquest isn't known until it is completed, and you must access the menu to do a save.

None of these interface features are serious issues, but there is one major design element that has a big and potentially negative impact on how the game plays. For most of the game you have 6 characters, but only 4 are active at any one time. The two "on the bench" receive 70% (each) of the amount of experience won by the active players. However, they receive zero contribution to the leveling up of the all important "energi rings" (an accessory worn by each character that adds skills).

The characters are not interchangeable, as each has a different native element and ultimately winds up with significantly different hit points and energi/skill points. For example, the spread of hp, for characters at maximum level (99), is from 9999 to about 6100, and the spread of ep is from 999 to about 750.

Unlike some games where point assignments can be reset, in Alphadia there is nothing but leveling up by winning battles, so who will be on the bench becomes important. You have to make your choices early, before you really know much about the character, and although you can routinely swap players from active to bench, some choices will result in punishing problems toward the end of the game which can only be corrected by significant additional grinding.

The story seems unremarkable to me, the music nothing special, the graphics a bit dated, and the characters typical. It is fun, however, to get to know those characters that reappear in other games (Enah is one of my favorites). I will note that the vocabulary is somewhat more advanced than in most Kemco rpgs.

All of what I have described above makes me believe that the normal game has little to no interest to a gamer.

The optional portion, however, features extremely complex dungeons (multiple doors each level, plenty of backtracking) without any mini-map, of course filled with random tougher monsters popping up on average every 6 seconds. The ultimate boss, Apocalypse, is very tough, and your battle of attrition against him, if you are successful, will last about 40 minutes.

So if you like making your own maps of mazy dungeons, or endurance contests always on the brink of disaster, then this part of Alphadia is just the thing for you. You probably will also have to endure a little bit of grinding to get to max level before you challenge Apocalypse. There is one small adjustment to speed up grinding available after you defeat the final/normal boss.

There is one special attraction I haven't mentioned: the incredible walkthrough written by MSG Commander (available on this website). It is one of the best I've ever seen, and contains not just detailed maps of the dungeons, but gps-like turn by turn directions as well.

Have you ever seen a map that guides you through one of those rooms with the hidden trap doors that drop you down? This guide has them! Without such a guide, unless you are an expert maze solver, you may just give up in frustration. Of course the guide also contains details about skills to be used in battles, and a description of the confrontation with Apocalypse. If you decide to play Alphadia, even if you forego the optional stuff, your enjoyment will be enhanced if you consult the walkthrough.