Well I’m finally here. The end of the line for the Madou GG games. It took me long enough to do them. The last entry is quite an interesting game as it’s sort of a port of the A portion of Madou Monogatari ARS. I never really hear anyone talk about this game and it came out around the time the Game Gear was dying so it was interesting to find out what this game was like.
About that plot, like in Madou III they rewrote it a bit. Just like that game too, Satan is now shoehorned into the story and is even the main antagonist. Arle is off to visit her grandma but unfortunately for her, Satan is tearing the Fairy Forest down to make an amusement park. Arle won’t have any of it and with help from the fairies, she’ll save the forest. It also should be noted that Arle is a child like how she was in Madou I. She’s even younger here being at age 4. Personally I’m not a big fan of the changed story but at least it visually looks better than the previous game’s intro.
You’ll begin the adventure and might notice some small differences as the engine is completely different than the previous three games. There’s some cool improvements like the game being a lot faster and battles feel a bit livelier as enemies move and your attacks now have more flare to them visually. It seems pretty promising. The voice clips for Arle were also changed once more and will sound familiar to other games starring child Arle at the time. Though it unfortunately can’t keep the streak going as the difficulty curve is at the worst here making it the worst beginning of the four games. You just don’t have a lot of health or magic at the start and while starting with healing magic and a shop nearby is handy, don’t be alarmed when you see how many game overs you’ll get in the first 30 minutes. Seriously I got killed at full health by the first enemy type due to an unlucky crit and a second attack. It’s a little jarring.
Speaking of battles, despite all I had just said. This is the easiest entry in the series. Once you get past that 30-50 minutes, the rest of the game is shockingly easy and kind of feels like you’ll be on autopilot the whole way through. They even kept the golden apple in most rooms like III did so you’ll rarely if ever have to grind. Your attack power confuses me in this one because I swear those fire/ice/lightning icons actually do mean damage. You also get a ton more crits here, it’s ridiculous. Why is there even an item for a better chance of crits if they’re just gonna feel 50/50 anyway. Even enemies can crit in this game. I swear so many enemies are frail in this game, dying to just a single diacute and spell. The bosses are even worse, these are the weakest they have ever been and it’s depressing. They didn’t even bother to make unique bosses besides Satan. Though I could look past all that if it wasn’t for how many damn times you’ll miss in this game. It can happen like 4 times in a row!! Why!? It actually discouraged me from fighting enemies when they give so little EXP because why bother if I’ll waste 4 turns not hitting anything. It’s obnoxious. You can also get a cannon weapon late into the game but sadly I never got to use it which is a shame. This game doesn’t even have the lipemco spell which is LAME!
The layout of the areas is also a little uninspired. Sometimes there’s the occasional decent gimmick but most of them aren’t challenging or don’t feel the most well thought out. This game also still loves invisible walls but after Madou III, I’ve gotten used to it. I feel like this game has a lot of dead ends and repetitive rooms which is something I never really felt from the past games. The game loves to lock out rooms until you find keys since most of the game lacks the traditional going up or down floors. The warp spell isn’t even here because of it. The final area of the game also felt quite lacking besides one enemy type that actually felt like a challenge because otherwise it’s a pretty underwhelming and short final area. The final boss is also such a joke that I beat him in 20 seconds.
While I have been negative, it at least might appeal to people who didn’t enjoy some of III’s mechanics. The warnings for enemies showing up are gone and since Carbuncle isn’t here, you won’t have to worry about feeding anyone this time. Not that those ever bothered me but I know it could for some. The game is also still humorous but not as good as the previous games imo. They also removed the easy EXP exploit with dancing as it now makes you watch the whole animation.
The game graphically is nice but I feel the overuse of the forests tends to make the majority of the game feel pretty samey. I already praised some aspects of the presentation already like the moving enemies and the new look for attacks. I do wish the game had more cutscenes but the ones that are here are good. The art for stuff like sprites are also a lot nicer here. I also really appreciate the :3 face Arle makes when healing and the :P face when eating or drinking. However there is one major gripe I do have, ever since I first played Madou Monogatari, I enjoy how the health is portrayed which is using Arle’s mood. It’s really creative and it makes for a good idea to convey it fast. There was even the text in battles that could help or the you’re about to die music that can play outside of battles. In Madou A sadly they made the mood thing way worse. It’s never obvious just how much health you have because Arle smiles for every single one even when on the verge of death. You have to look at the eyes but it’s still not that helpful. There’s no other entry with this issue so I'm confused why this one does. I can’t even compliment the music because while it’s good, it’s because most of it is from Madou III. They actually don’t fit in well either and I’m wondering why only a couple of tunes like the battle theme are original this time around.
I had a hard time coming up with a conclusion on my opinion with Madou A. It has issues but I keep asking myself “Do I like it more or less than II?” Personally despite the grinding frustrations, I think II is just more memorable and interesting in the good it has. I feel like this game is borderline good. It still has stuff that makes the series good but I not only find some of it downgraded but some changes just aren’t great. You can still have fun here but I personally find this the worst of the four games. Regardless of what I’ve said though, I’m still happy I’ve beaten each entry now, I can rest easy. I guess before I go I should say that the R and S versions were considered for GG but sadly the system was almost done for before it could happen which is a shame. I would link the twitter post I saw for it but I sadly couldn’t find it. This also won’t be the end for me talking about the franchise in general as you’ll eventually hear me talk about Madou Monogatari: Hanamaru Daiyouchi Enji for the Super Famicom. Hope you enjoyed reading the review everyone and hope you all play through these games someday in your life!
About that plot, like in Madou III they rewrote it a bit. Just like that game too, Satan is now shoehorned into the story and is even the main antagonist. Arle is off to visit her grandma but unfortunately for her, Satan is tearing the Fairy Forest down to make an amusement park. Arle won’t have any of it and with help from the fairies, she’ll save the forest. It also should be noted that Arle is a child like how she was in Madou I. She’s even younger here being at age 4. Personally I’m not a big fan of the changed story but at least it visually looks better than the previous game’s intro.
You’ll begin the adventure and might notice some small differences as the engine is completely different than the previous three games. There’s some cool improvements like the game being a lot faster and battles feel a bit livelier as enemies move and your attacks now have more flare to them visually. It seems pretty promising. The voice clips for Arle were also changed once more and will sound familiar to other games starring child Arle at the time. Though it unfortunately can’t keep the streak going as the difficulty curve is at the worst here making it the worst beginning of the four games. You just don’t have a lot of health or magic at the start and while starting with healing magic and a shop nearby is handy, don’t be alarmed when you see how many game overs you’ll get in the first 30 minutes. Seriously I got killed at full health by the first enemy type due to an unlucky crit and a second attack. It’s a little jarring.
Speaking of battles, despite all I had just said. This is the easiest entry in the series. Once you get past that 30-50 minutes, the rest of the game is shockingly easy and kind of feels like you’ll be on autopilot the whole way through. They even kept the golden apple in most rooms like III did so you’ll rarely if ever have to grind. Your attack power confuses me in this one because I swear those fire/ice/lightning icons actually do mean damage. You also get a ton more crits here, it’s ridiculous. Why is there even an item for a better chance of crits if they’re just gonna feel 50/50 anyway. Even enemies can crit in this game. I swear so many enemies are frail in this game, dying to just a single diacute and spell. The bosses are even worse, these are the weakest they have ever been and it’s depressing. They didn’t even bother to make unique bosses besides Satan. Though I could look past all that if it wasn’t for how many damn times you’ll miss in this game. It can happen like 4 times in a row!! Why!? It actually discouraged me from fighting enemies when they give so little EXP because why bother if I’ll waste 4 turns not hitting anything. It’s obnoxious. You can also get a cannon weapon late into the game but sadly I never got to use it which is a shame. This game doesn’t even have the lipemco spell which is LAME!
The layout of the areas is also a little uninspired. Sometimes there’s the occasional decent gimmick but most of them aren’t challenging or don’t feel the most well thought out. This game also still loves invisible walls but after Madou III, I’ve gotten used to it. I feel like this game has a lot of dead ends and repetitive rooms which is something I never really felt from the past games. The game loves to lock out rooms until you find keys since most of the game lacks the traditional going up or down floors. The warp spell isn’t even here because of it. The final area of the game also felt quite lacking besides one enemy type that actually felt like a challenge because otherwise it’s a pretty underwhelming and short final area. The final boss is also such a joke that I beat him in 20 seconds.
While I have been negative, it at least might appeal to people who didn’t enjoy some of III’s mechanics. The warnings for enemies showing up are gone and since Carbuncle isn’t here, you won’t have to worry about feeding anyone this time. Not that those ever bothered me but I know it could for some. The game is also still humorous but not as good as the previous games imo. They also removed the easy EXP exploit with dancing as it now makes you watch the whole animation.
The game graphically is nice but I feel the overuse of the forests tends to make the majority of the game feel pretty samey. I already praised some aspects of the presentation already like the moving enemies and the new look for attacks. I do wish the game had more cutscenes but the ones that are here are good. The art for stuff like sprites are also a lot nicer here. I also really appreciate the :3 face Arle makes when healing and the :P face when eating or drinking. However there is one major gripe I do have, ever since I first played Madou Monogatari, I enjoy how the health is portrayed which is using Arle’s mood. It’s really creative and it makes for a good idea to convey it fast. There was even the text in battles that could help or the you’re about to die music that can play outside of battles. In Madou A sadly they made the mood thing way worse. It’s never obvious just how much health you have because Arle smiles for every single one even when on the verge of death. You have to look at the eyes but it’s still not that helpful. There’s no other entry with this issue so I'm confused why this one does. I can’t even compliment the music because while it’s good, it’s because most of it is from Madou III. They actually don’t fit in well either and I’m wondering why only a couple of tunes like the battle theme are original this time around.
I had a hard time coming up with a conclusion on my opinion with Madou A. It has issues but I keep asking myself “Do I like it more or less than II?” Personally despite the grinding frustrations, I think II is just more memorable and interesting in the good it has. I feel like this game is borderline good. It still has stuff that makes the series good but I not only find some of it downgraded but some changes just aren’t great. You can still have fun here but I personally find this the worst of the four games. Regardless of what I’ve said though, I’m still happy I’ve beaten each entry now, I can rest easy. I guess before I go I should say that the R and S versions were considered for GG but sadly the system was almost done for before it could happen which is a shame. I would link the twitter post I saw for it but I sadly couldn’t find it. This also won’t be the end for me talking about the franchise in general as you’ll eventually hear me talk about Madou Monogatari: Hanamaru Daiyouchi Enji for the Super Famicom. Hope you enjoyed reading the review everyone and hope you all play through these games someday in your life!