Prinny Presents NIS Classics is a series I can really get behind. Bringing older generations of games to current consoles is never a bad thing for a couple of reasons. One, archiving! Two, it introduces new players to the games that influenced what they may currently be playing. For example, Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3 contains two games, La Pucelle: Ragnarok and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. The latter is what I’ll be focusing on today, and it is described as the “roots” of the super-popular Disgaea series.
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure is featured in this new trailer for the collection. The game is about a young girl, Cornet, who can communicate with puppets. Her dream is to meet prince charming, but that goal falters as the kingdom has the evil Majorly around. The game features original songs, colourful anime characters, and an intuitive battle system. Multiple difficulty levels can be chosen.
To gain an advantage in battle, players can use Cornet’s horn to enhance their puppets while also giving Appreciation Points. When they hit an appreciation point goal, they’ll gain access to special Rewards with powerful effects. Each character and enemy is assigned an elemental affinity, granting them unique sets of spells. These spells, combined with other abilities, can really exploit enemy vulnerabilities. That being said – each elemental has a weakness, so watch out for enemies to exploit the party’s weak spots.
Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3 follows Volume 2 (obviously), which Matt gave 4.5 stars in his review from this May. The publisher describes it as being “overflowing with new content” including the Overlord Prier scenario. Extra downloadable characters are included, including Rozalin, Hero Prinny, and Ellie. The ability to skip cutscenes has been added along with the ability to rotate the camera during battle. There are also more voiced lines, more music, and a new quick travel feature. Despite having sharper graphics, there’s an option to mimic CRT (which seems to defeat the purpose).
Developed by Nippon Ichi and published by NIS America, Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 3 will be released for PC via Steam and Nintendo Switch on August 30 in North America, September 2 in Europe, and September 9 in Australia. It will be available digitally and physically for Nintendo Switch; the physical edition includes a soundtrack and an art book.
