From this humble starting point, I begin my path to world domination!

After hours of playing Atlus's upcoming game lineup, all four of us in attendance were handed a controller and told that it was time to party. Our next game to try out was Dokapon Kingdom, the ultimate party RPG. I think the general consensus was cautious optimism, as none of us were too steeped in the history of Dokapon. It was explained that this game was a remake of the SNES version and was a board game RPG for the PlayStation 2 and the Wii.

Our cautious optimism quickly turned into curiousity as we were each given the chance to create a character. Mikel picked a female Warrior named "Mysty", Anna Marie chose a Thief dubbed "Paws", Cole summoned an wicked Mage whose name we shall not mention, and I selected "Mac," an aptly named, mean looking Warrior. Within seconds, the four of us our whisked away to a world map acting as our game board. This map contained towns, shops, and other event locations. At the start of each turn, players are given the option of using items, casting spells, or activating the spinner. After a quick spin, turn order was determined: I was going first.

It was clear from the first turn; this game was going to get personal. I moved and took my place on the board with the others following right behind. Mikel and Cole became quick rivals leaving Anna Marie and myself to duke it out. These first few turns had us encountering NPCs that offered to create new, powerful weapons for us to purchase and then failing and walking off with our money. It wasn't long before we encountered the menacing Robo-assassin, a robot NPC you can pay to attack one of your fellow players. Our first assassination attempt went horribly awry, as the Robo-assassin showed up as Anna Marie and I were fighting each other to defeat not only Anna Marie's Thief, "Paws", but me as well the very next turn. Robo-assassin has no loyalties.

She's full of cute AND win.

Combat between either players or against enemies is simple enough. When attacking, players can attack normally, cast magic or use skills, attempt a critical attack, or charge their power. The defending player has to decide whether they want to defend or counter the attack. In my match against the tricky Thief, "Paws," I was victorious. Then came the fun part: gloating. The undefeated Warrior "Mac" was given the option of stealing from "Paws," drawing on her face, or changing her name. A part of a running joke of the Run to the Sun event, I immediately decided to change Anna Marie's character from "Paws" to "Pause." She was not happy. Mikel and Cole battle back and forth attempting to be the first to make it around the map to the town that would claim them victory. Their battling got the better of them and both were soon back at the start. Anna Marie and "Pause" soon were getting ahead of the rest of us, but not before I was able to beat her up once again and this time decorate her cute, little face with glasses and a moustache. Despite all of the punishment she took, "Pause" was still able to win the match by making it to the end before the rest of us could catch her.

Dokapon Kingdom may not be the next epic RPG to hit shelves, but this is a title will unite RPG lovers with our casual gaming friends. It is an interesting board game concept on its own, but when the RPG-elememnts are tossed in, the game really comes alive. It's truly a shame that we couldn't have tried out more of the game modes, but overall the four of us seemed to really enjoy ourselves in the one mode we tried. Keep an eye out for this cute board game RPG early this fall.