Tingle RPG

[LadyNintendo]

You may guess once what this topic is going to be about. no rewards for guessing right though. :P

Anyway, I've been playing the game for two days now (that is, my sis and I fight each other for every minute of gametime we can get) and it's just awesome. Does anyone else have it or plans to get it? I thought it might be nice to describe what it's like in case people are curious or still doubting. P.S. we need a Tingle RPG board. Or change the PH board in a DS Zelda board.  :)

The best way to describe Tingle RPG (which isn't an RPG btw. It's an Action-Adventure like every TLOZ) is as a mix between the Zelda Universe (mainly the Oracle games it seems), and the zany atmosphere of the Mario RPG's and Wario Ware.

The gameplay borrows only a few elements from the regular TLOZ's. There's an overworld, there are dungeons, there are enemies to kill and whiney people to bring stuff. The focus lies on the overworld and you shouldn't expect too much of the dungeons. Remember, this is Tingle's game, not Link's. The rules are slightly different. Same goes for you life meter. Tingle's life meter is his wallet. If ever he is left with zero Rupees, he dies. This gives an interesting twist to the gameplay. In the TLOZ games, someone can ask 100 Rupees for something and you think: "Oh, I got 104 Rupees. I'll buy it". In Tingle RPG, someone asks for 100 Rupees and you think: "Oooow, I only got 130. Guess I'll better go get some more first". Money plays a huge role in this game. You need it to stop people from avoiding you (this includes a fountain  :o); you need it to get info from them; you need it to pay for items (you can haggle in some cases); you need it to enter dungeons and you need it to pay bodyguards. Then again, there are also lots of ways to make money. You can sell items that you get from killed enemies or create something from them (cooking, even if the created item is not meant to be eaten) and sell that for a higher price, you can find treasure on a few places and if you help someone, you can usually get a nice reward. However, for that last option, you usually only get one chance and you have to guess how much you can ask. If you ask too little, you'll lose on a nice oppurtunity to make money. If you ask too much, they'll get mad and not pay at all. Some reviews have been complaining that there's no indication for what you should ask. That's true, but it's not entirely random. If you bring back a little girl's doll, of course you can't ask that much (not to mention it's one of your first quests). If you save someone's wife, of course you can ask a large sum. Now, I'm not far enough in the game to guarantee there's always some logic, but I haven't found any awkward prices/prizes yet. Cooking is a lot of fun. If you have the proper ingredients and a recipe (or are incredibly lucky by guessing a working recipe), you can create new, usable, more valuable items in a mini game against the clock. You can only carry these new items with you if you have a bottle to put them into, so getting a huge amount of bottles is one of your biggest concerns.  

Like you might expect, Tingle is a worthless fighter. That's why he needs bodyguards to aid him in battle. Let me put it like this: Tingle RPG is the first game in which hiring bodyguards doesn't feel like a complete waste of everything. The various bodyguards (30) are a real part of the world. You got children, women, men, a depressive clown etc. There are three types of bodyguards: small (not that strong, cheap and capable of going in narrow parts of dungeons), medium (decent fighter, decent pay, capable of unlocking doors in dungeons) and large (great fighter, expensive and capable of breaking rocks in dungeons). Most are connected to a salon and will need to be hired there. Hiring is a tad tricky. You have to pay commission to the salon owner everytime you try to hire a bodyguard. I lost about 30 Rupees trying to get Chuckles to work for me before I found an offer he was willing to accept. With the limited save options in Tingle RPG and the importance of Rupees, that is kinda annoying. Other bodyguards can be found in the overworld and they will require you to prove your value to them before they will be prepared to work for you. I'm pretty sure that crazy ninja I've met on two occassions is one of those bodyguards. Anyway, once hired, you'll be confronted with your bodyguards behaviour, which can be either passive or agressive (I can't tell if assertive is a possible behaviour as none of my or my sis' bodyguards was like that). The agressive bodyguard attacks every enemy he or she sees, while you have to force the passive one into battle. It's far less annoying than it sounds, but it can be a little troubling at times. A nice feature is  "Tingle Chance" which is a slot machine game that sometimes appears in a when fighting. If each reels gets the Tingle symbol (I believe two get it automatically), the bodyguards special movie is activated. It appears as a small movie which reminds of the Blue Rogue attack's attacks in Skies of Arcadia, in which the bodyguard does "something" which results in the immediate death of the enemies and a far better reward.  

Bodyguards are loyal to you until you hire a new one and won't require any payment after the hiring part is over. That is, unless they collapse, which counts as the end of the contract. They'll keep lying where they fell until you rehire them or hire a new bodyguard.

If there are any questions about this game, feel free to ask them. And before I forget, if you thought Tingle was gay and dislike him because of that, NEVER play this game. One rather often seen character looks and acts like a Village People's member gone cuckoo.

[Bboy94]

I woulda gotten it, but the whole cartoon style fighting with the bodyguards just makes it seem not fun at all, sounds like it would get really tedious and tiring after a few minutes of fighting.

[Gamefreak]

I might get it if my Christmas budget allows.

[Fishalicious]

If I happen upon some more money, then yes, I'd definitely get it... I'd love to get it, really. ^^

[DW]

It definitely sounds different, but I doubt I'll get it, as I have no DS. However, if I DO get one...

[Twilight Wolf]

Heck, I didn't even know the game was available! Sounds like it could be a lot of fun, though. I'm pretty sure I won't just go and buy it, because DS games cost a lot, but I'd be happy to try it out if I could.

[MagmarFire]

Sounds like there's a bit more strategy involved in the game. The money thing is also interesting and thought provoking, to say the least. I'd like to get this game also, but I, too, have no DS. :-*

[LadyNintendo]

I woulda gotten it, but the whole cartoon style fighting with the bodyguards just makes it seem not fun at all, sounds like it would get really tedious and tiring after a few minutes of fighting.

Regular fights (boss fights are different of course) are always the same: Tingle or the bodyguard hits an enemy and the fight starts. It is displayed as one of those cartoony dust clouds where stars, weird sounds and body parts of the fighters appear from. A fight is fought automatically, but you can speed up winning by tapping on the dust cloud. This is recommended since the longer Tingle stays in battle, the more Rupees he loses. A bodyguard longer in battle than necessary loses more life. It is also recommended to move the cloud when fighting in order to get more enemies involved so the reward becomes a lot better.

I can understand that if you really care a lot about fighting in games and need a huge arsenal of weapons and moves, you could very easily not like this game. It's not God of War or Prince of Persia. But for anyone who can appreciate other gameplay (like exploring, trading, collecting, cooking), those fights won't become tedious. Actually, combat in Tingle RPG is a more strategic must than a Rambo must. Most of the fights happen only because you wanted it (agressive bodyguards and enemies make things a bit harder) and a big part of the fights happen because you want the items that a specific enemy type drops. Like, very early in the game, you can get a fireworks recipe as well as find a place where you can fight two rats at once. One rat drops one bone (item) and two rats (in one fight) drop three bones. Three bones is exactly what you need to make fireworks. You'll lose about 5- Rupees fighting those rats and can sell fireworks for 36 Rupees to the Armourer. That's a nice extra profit to help you get started. Fighting is a must, but not for the sake of fighting like in most action-adventures.

Heck, I didn't even know the game was available!

Ah yes, if I'm correct, the game is not released in the USA and never will be. However, since the DS is region free, one can import the game from Europe. Or as one reviewer on Gamefaqs said: "Nintendo of America plays it safe. Nintendo of Europe takes a gamble. Nintendo of Europe wins!"

I think I should also highlight some lesser gameplay elements. Let's start with the save system. You can only save at Tingle's house. You can warp there whenever you want if you are on the overworld. However, this can be a little annoying when you want to save your dungeon progress (leave dungeon, warp to your house, enter, save, walk back to the dungeon, enter dungeon) or when you need to pay/ask for payment.  

The game has a system to prevent people from getting things for the lowest price possible. When trying to get info or items from certain people, you have to pay an unknown minimum or you won't get what you want AND they take whatever you offered and it won't count towards a total. For instance, I wanted info from a journalist and it turned out he wanted (at least) 190 Rupees for it. It took me 5 guesses to get there after offering 50, then 80, then 120, then 160, then 190. So in all, I paid 600 for the info. Of course I chose to restart the game and try again for only 190 Rupees immediately (this is why the limited save system can be annoying). Then again, the game warns you not to be a cheapskate and you don't have to buy info or bottles, even though those usually do come in handy. Also, not everyone/thing is annoying like this. The tower, the bridge repairing guy and dungeons do sum up what they have gotten. Just to make things clear, this system is implemented to add to the challenge of the game. It prevents people from trying to find the cheapest price by trying again and again with an offer only 10 Rupees higher than the former. Keeping the cheapskate rule in mind, I don't think situations like the one I described happen often (I only stumbled on something like this twice).