Thanks to KEMCO for the review code

Title: Alphadia
System: 3DS (eShop)
Price: $9.99 $
Release date: 02/04/2016

The main game/story

Only a century after the end of the Energi war, and the Schwarzschild Empire is up to no good! In this very simple RPG from Kemco, you take control of a young man named Ash, who along with his friend Karim and a few strangers, set out on a quest to solve the mysteries behind the empire, and to discover the secrets left behind during the war. It’s your standard JRPG fare, and unfortunately the story doesn’t get much deeper than this.

Graphics

This is yet another retro inspired RPG with 2D graphics. Similar to the Wii U entry in the series, Alphadia Genesis, the overworld sprites look rather odd, and don’t have much detail or animation to them. Thankfully, the battle sprites look much better, despite how Alphadia doesn’t use the 3D battle system that Genesis did. There’s no horrible battle transitions either, its quick and simple. Animations are simple, dungeon layouts are simple, the artwork is simple… As a matter of fact, it seems that this whole game is just a simple RPG.

Music and Sound

While the sound effects work just like you would expect them to in a RPG like this, the music is rather mediocre at best. Most songs are short and will loop endlessly, and despite using nice instrumentation, they can get on your nerves quickly. (Especially the main battle theme) There are a few gems here and there in this soundtrack, but I recommend just ignoring the music, if you can.

Gameplay

For a RPG, Alphadia is incredibly simple, if what I explained about the graphics didn’t indicate that already. You have your simple story of trying to stop a bad empire from taking over the world, and your main goals really are to get from Point A to Point B, learn more about story and maybe fight a boss, and repeat. It’s a very basic RPG, and the dungeon layouts are just as simple. To make it even easier, you can even use the touch screen as a map to guide you around dungeons.

There’s really not much to say that wouldn’t apply to any other RPG, as even the battle system is your standard fare. Four party members enter a random encounter, and they can use their normal attacks to defeat the enemy, or cast spells (Energi in this game) to help out allies or do elemental damage to foes. After a certain point in the game, you can get an item that’ll help you level up the other elements for certain party members, making it so that you’ll have a wider access of spells. (As by default, each party member has their own element that they are forced to use as their primary. Said items just makes it easier to try out different combinations) I honestly can’t say much more about this game, as this literally is JRPG 101 when it comes to gameplay. Do you like a little grinding? Do you like an overall easy experience? Do you like a simple story and a simple battle system? Then Alphadia is pretty much the game that answers these question with a “Yes.”

Conclusion

In conclusion, Alphadia is not a bad game by any means. In fact, I actually had a lot of decent fun with the game despite its extreme simplicity. It’s easy to play on the go, the touch screen map helps greatly and there’s plenty to keep you occupied for the price tag. The unfortunate thing is, the simplicity really does show, so depending on what you think of such simplistic titles, Alphadia may or may not be for you. You will either not mind the simple sidequests or battle systems, or you’ll find it repetitive and unbearable. For those looking to kill some time without having to worry about complex battle systems, Alphadia is for you. I give a 6 out of 10,