Gamertell

Dokapon Kingdom for the Wii, Atlus and Sting’s RPG party game, recently underwent a pretty substantial price drop at GameStop. Since $17.99 used seemed like a fair enough price, I decided to splurge on the game that is supposedly capable of destroying friendships in a single sitting.

I attempted to play a single player game, against a computer opponent, but found myself getting brutally humiliated. There was only one solution, play against a friend.

That’s where Jessi, fellow Gamertell writer and good friend comes in. We decided to see just how trying Dokapon Kingdom could be on two friends.

We began playing the game at about 7pm. I went with a black, female thief as my first character and she went with a yellow, female witch. I decided to be a benevolent opponent, and brought the game box, with instruction manual, along. I always was kind enough to explain some of the basics of Dokapon. Get more towns and money than your opponent, and don’t hesitate to inflict pain on others if you’re losing.

I quickly breezed through the introductory map, picking up a dagger and a potion for later use. Partook in a few random battles, and made my way to the castle. Meanwhile, Jessi was floundering in one of the circle paths you have to go through to reach the upper portion of the map. I graciously assisted her in escaping and continuing her journey to the castle, after she’d gone through the complete circle once already.

The spinner was my friend that day, and I found myself reaching the castle by our 8th day playing. I received my 8 stat point bonus and decided it was time to start building Jenni’s Majestic Empire. J.M.E, if you prefer. I wanted the acronym to be J.E.M., but I couldn’t seem to work it out. Jenni’s Enormous, Enriching Realm was an option, but J.E.E.R.? No.

Jessi, unfortunately, didn’t have the same luck with the spinner. After two weeks, the frustrated king just warped little level 2 Jessi to Dokapon Kingdom. Despite an unfortunate encounter with an imp that killed me, I was a resounding level 3 and had already visited the Weapons Shop for a bit of an upgrade.

Jessi “thought” she was winning at the point. It’s okay Jessi! I don’t blame you! The grid mislead her, after all. After 7 days of play, a grid comes up showing who’s richer. She was ahead by a few hundred dollars. I let her have her moment of glory.

She decided that she too, wanted to visit the Weapons Shop. Alas, it was not to be. It was all that darn spinner’s fault. After she realized she had to land exactly on a shop or town to enter, she proclaimed, “I hate this game!” The first few times I sympathized with her. “I believe in you Jessi! You’ll get there next time!” But inside, I was laughing, and after her first 5 attempts to spin a 1 or 4, I gave in. Holding in laughter could cause serious internal damage, you know.

It was around this time that I decided to place a trap on one space. I needed an extra space in my inventory, honest! Shortly after I did, Jessi managed to spin a good spin - and land on the same space I did.

Let’s just say that Jessi’s level 2 mage was no match for my now level 4 thief. I dispatched her quickly and efficiently in one hit with a Strike attack. As her mage lay defeated, the game offered me options of what to do to her. “Forgive me!” Jessi pleaded. But the time for benevolence was over. I choose the graffiti option, putting ugly black marks all over her face.

While Jessi was out for three turns, I resumed fighting around the continent. I even ended up defeating a mushroom enemy that killed Jessi’s character earlier in one hit! Shortly after Jessi defeated death and awoke with ugly scribbles all over her face, I liberated my first town! A lovely little hamlet by the name of Uvs Nuur that’d had trouble with a mushroom enemy. By the time the next grid came up, I was in the lead. Jenni’s Majestic Empire had begun it’s reign.

I don’t mean to brag, but things went pretty well after that. J.M.E. came to include not only Uvs Nuur, but also the towns of Xishan, Bukhan, Jurong and Sumida. Sumida was an accident, really. The main monster for that chapter had put a roadblock up, and the only direction I could go was towards Sumida. It wasn’t my fault I’d rolled a perfect 3. Jessi, of course, maintained that I did it on purpose. But really, there was a wall there. Take a look at the pretty graph I drew, to show what a comeback I’d made!

Meanwhile, Jessi’d managed to finally reach the Weapons Shop! Yay for Jessi! Unfortunately, she’d also died two more times while trying to defeat monsters in the towns of Ussuri and Ural, resulting in her character going bald and losing a Scorch spell she’d spent 2,500 gold on. She’d become consumed by the idea of gaining a town, and had banned me from visiting the towns on the upper half of the board. “Those are mine!” She’d helplessly assert. I, being a good friend, agreed and decided to explore the Spring Cave.

If I’d really wanted to, I could have beaten her again and taken those towns. I was level 10 and close to mastering the thief job by this point and she was either level 6 or 7. Mercy’s a virtue though.

Besides, I was in massive debt after the wandering NPC Dr. Exiles treated my character and charged me 35,000 gold. While my net worth is very high, mind you, I didn’t have that kind of cash on hand and so I was going around with a -27,000 hanging over my head.

Apparently, my resounding success was too much for her psyche to bear. She gave in to the dark side, giving up all her possessions and money, and became a Darkling. A vicious monster creature. At first I thought I’d emerge from the Spring Cave, fight her and end her reign of terror before she could unleash monsters upon Jenni’s Majestic Empire and take it from me.

Except when I got out, I saw what her “new” stats were. All of them were in the upper three digits. Mine were in the lower two. She quickly found me, savagely killed my character and unleashed monsters on all the towns I’d saved. Oh, and she renamed me POOPY.

I was back at square one. Once my character came back to life, I immediately set out and liberated Bukhan and Jurong yet again. I also stopped by the castle to return to the moniker Jenni and switched to the Magician class since I’d mastered the thief class.

We then decided we would play until Jessi got her own town. She stepped away for a second while I was taking my turn. Surprisingly, I rolled a 5, which would land me on the land of Ussuri, which was still looking for a savior. So, I went right up there and saved Ussuri. It was really easy. The monster was still weak after Jessi’d tried to kill it about an hour ago. Then Jessi came back in the room, saw Ussuri was part of the new Jenni’s Majestic Empire, and asked how it happened. I claimed I had no where else I could go.

Jessi, let me clear the air once and for all - There were plenty of places I could go. I just felt ever so bad for the poor, imaginary villagers of Ussuri that I couldn’t let them suffer! That, and an NPC named Leann had given me an item to take to the mayor of Ussuri in exchange for money, and that -25,000 debt above my name wasn’t going to go away on it’s own.

Finally, after two hours of playing, Jessi managed to land on and save the town of Uvs Nuur.

But I’m still the best contender for new ruler of Dokapon Kingdom! Unless Jessi decides to accidentally delete the save data from her Wii.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Dokapon Kingdom]