PoPoLoCrois (PlayStation Portable, 2005)

Right before October 2005, the RPG fans were in a quandary over which game to buy for the PSP; Legend of Heroes? Or Popolocrois? Having played (and reviewed) both games, I can confidently say that both RPGs are solid, must-haves for gamers. However, overall, I would favor Popolocrois as the slightly better game.


Popolocrois, (pronounced poh-poh-loh-CROY in french, or poh-poh-loh-CROY-ess in Japanese,) features an old-fashioned RPG feel, remeniscent of old NES or SNES games. However, making full use of the PSP's capabilities, the colors are vibrant, and the animated clips every now and then are amazing!


The sound in Popolocrois is a bit different than typical RPGs. The music score has kind of a quirky, weird feel to it, which seems to be the general aim of the game.


I'm the kind of RPG fan who likes well-detailed storylines and character development. In this aspect, Popolocrois did something different that I appreciated. The player gets to follow the main characters through different stories and time periods. Pietro, the main character, starts off as a kid, and grows into a bigger kid, and then ends up as a teenager. The other characters in the story change as well, creating a little bond between gamer and characters. The storylines (yes plural) are excellent, and are supported well by the periodic movie clips.


The gameplay and battle system in Popolocrois is where it really towers over Legend of Heroes. Popolocrois's turn-based battle system holds much more possibilities than that of LOH. Positioning is a key element to battle, and different skills have different ranges. Team attacks are powerful, and awesome to watch!


Overall, Popolocrois is a great RPG for the PSP. If you're an RPG fan, this is a must-have for your collection!

well. its good rpg for the first 10 hours. After that because the game is really simple so its easy to get bored. go find TALES OF ETERNIA or BREATH OF FIRE3 for psp!! even thats a classic game from ps game. But thats way way way better than all of rpg psp game. it's an import game, you can find the english version. not a lot, but good game. i tried all the rpg in psp, this is still the best. GO FOR TALES OF ETERNIA or BREATH OF FIRE 3

Does a great job of keeping that traditional RPG style from the early FF games. The game is massive, almost too long to play through sometimes, for some that's a benifit. There is a great spell that repels enemies, if your good, and have it set on easy, you can always just use that spell and have a ton of fun through the game a bit quicker.

If you like hard core incredibly involved and difficult RPG games, then this one is not for you. If you like having fun, then buy this game! PoPoloCrois is an old style RPG, kind of like the early Final Fantasy games. It has a wonderful story with characters you really get to know and care about.

Pietro begins as the 11 year old son of the King of PoPoLoCrois. His Mother, Sania, is a white dragon in human form. The friends he meets along his five year journey include Narcia (a forest witch), the White Knight (who is adopted as a Dad by a baby dragon), Gami-Gami Devil (an inept inventor who claims to be evil and wants to take over the world, but has a big heart), Jilva (the princess of Roma), Leona (she defends the animals with her bow), Kumendoji (a mysterious Samurai warrior). There are other characters who come and go, but these are the main ones that stick with Pietro and fight alongside him in his many quests.

The story is long and involved, but never boring. There are lots of animated cutscenes with voice that make it like watching a well made cartoon. At the end of the game, there is an automatic save that creates a folder of all the animated parts that you can go back and watch again. It is VERY cool.

The battle system is probably too easy for most sophisticated gamers, but for this 55 year old, it was wonderful. You can set the game to attack, defend, use spells on its own. But you can also set each character to fight on its own. When you come across an enemy, the game does the fighting for you. Now, I didn't want to do that--what fun is that??? So I set it on manual, and I controlled the moves and actions of each character against the enemies. It's a bit like a chess game: you can move within a certain number of squares and perform a physical attack, or use magic that can wipe out one or sometimes all enemies even from a distance. Learning the moves and magic abilities of each character puts it on a more personal level. I really grew to care about these people.

I've played games where leveling up (or grinding, as some call it) is a complete bore. Not this game. You can go outside a town or village, battle, level up and get lots of money fast. And there are inns and "blue lights" throughout the game to rest and save.

There are times when you have to go back and forth to towns you visited in the past, but the townspeople always have different things to say to you, and the stores upgrade the merchandise. And even the monsters you encounter change to bigger and better enemies.

Is it a hard game--no.
Is it a great game for newbies or those just wanting some old fashioned fun--absolutly!

This is a game with heart. The main story is wonderful, the side stories all have a link with the main story. The ending is beautiful. I laughed and cried and was afraid and fought the good fight to help my friends of PoPoLoCrois save their world. I've already started playing it again. This is one of the best games I've ever played!

This is an awesome game, I own it, and it is not rare! I checked all over town, and each store had over 100 copies. Target, Gamestop, Best Buy, even sears (yes sears carries games here)! So I am not putting anyone down, but this game is great, but is not rare.

Considering how much you can get this game for and the time it takes to complete it, it's a decent RPG for those who love the genre since there are so few available one the PSP.