Glory of Heracles (USA) DS ROM

Review by LordZemus:

The sixth entry of the Glory of Heracles franchise ( the other five belonged to the NES-SNES era and weren’t translated into English , except for a few ones by the hands of translation groups) You start out as the amnesiac Heracles (you can rename him later in the game) washed ashore somewhere in Greece after having a flashback of a mysterious man calling asking you to flee from am unseen danger. With only your name you go forth and stumble upon a man chasing after… a girl?, boy? (I don’t even know , but if you like traps…) called Leucos for stealing a sword from him that actually belonged to the boy/girl’s father; following them you and him/her fall of a cliff and discover something quite strange after not spilling you brains out from thee fall: You are both immortal! and none of you know why. After the shock you team up and venture forth seeking the answer to your immortality, recovering your memories and finding other immortal companions along the way, such as the narcissistic Axios, the sage Eris and a beefed up dude who just happens to also be named Heracles (smells fishy) . While you go through Greece you can find real live places and heroes , and even take part in some historical events like Troy’s raid with the wooden horse (historical-fantasy RPG we could say

The Game

At first it may seem very unappealing to you because of it’s graphics (not the best , I know) but the story and specially the combat system are the things that will hook you in: There are 2 important combat factors in the game: 1.Skills , magic and power up mini games ; The skills you have are determined by the Greek God temples, Prometheus Shrines you visit and equipment you wear ;the temples and shrines will give you new skills and magic that will be unlocked after you level up after getting them (or acquire them immediately if you have the required level), while the equipment will give you active and passive skills (you may want to think twice before changing armor if it screws up your battle strategy) . And to spice up things , all skills and magic have in-battle mini games that if done right , they buff up their power considerably. 2: Ether  All characters have MP to cast spells and skills , but spells depend on the ether present in the battlefield , represented in the upper screen by colored flames with numbers to their right, each spell consumes both MP and Ether , and if you try to attack consuming ether you don’t have , Reflux happens and deals massive damage to the caster , so you have to be careful.And if you ever require to replenish MP you can try Overkill which consists in dealing a lot more damage an enemy can handle or beating their corpse even more to death (¡They are already dead you monster!! This isnt Valkyrie Profile Covenant of the Plume!) which will heal some MP.
If you overlook the simple graphics and design , you may find this to be quite and entertaining RPG with a deeper feel and gameplay to it than it looks.