One of the weaker modern Falcom titles, but unlike its painfully dull sequel, Zwei: The Arges Adventure is simple enough and charming enough to be potentially worth playing. Especially if you're looking for a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Zwei is aesthetically great for the most part. It has strong background art which feels reminiscent of Legend of Mana’s isometric 2D style in the town and field. It boasts fantastic character designs- especially the main duo who feel straight up inspired by Mint and Rue from Dewprism/Threads of Fate. Pipiro’s big poofy robe with the fluffy cotton balls from head to toe is one of the comfiest and most recognizable character designs of the era imo.
However, the in-dungeon models, animations, and environments are much less impressive- the models in particular which border on uncanny. They’re super bug-eyed and have a creepy waddle when they move. Additionally, calling the attack animation an “animation” is kinda generous to begin with. It’s more like the model just dashes forward for a sec. Think Pokemon SwSh's attack animations but not quite as overtly hilarious. These areas of complaint aren’t anything too deal breaking, but when compared to the stronger aspects of the game’s visuals, it’s definitely kinda jarring.
While the visuals are solid overall, the writing is what grabs your attention from the start. In terms of like… plot? Hell no. The actual narrative itself has very little substance or intrigue to it. It’s purely just to get you moving in the dungeons and guide you towards the end. The dialogue, however, especially from Pipiro, is great at times. I think Falcom (or whoever translated it, xseed i guess? haven’t actually looked into it) knew this game would thrive off comedy and generally not taking itself seriously. The script is very light and oftentimes a straight up meme. Not in a bad way either, the quips consistently landed for me. Well... for a while, at least.
The script kinda lost its luster after the first few hours for me though, ngl. I think it’s because the NPC dialogue and actual plot were way below what I was expecting from a falcom title in this era, having played the Trails in the Sky trilogy beforehand. The script def makes a strong first impression, but you quickly come to realize that everyone’s dialogue other than Pipiro (and the occasional cringe gem from Pokkle) just kind of sucks. It definitely has its moments tho, Pipiro screaming “calm your tits” during Pokkle’s literal biggest character development moment fucking killed me.
Combat is not this game’s strong suit either. It’s clunky, mashy, and overly simplistic. Nothing actively bad, just thoroughly mid. The inventory/menuing is also worth mentioning cuz it was kind of a nightmare to play on controller at times. That is admittedly on me for stubbornly using it even though the game was clearly designed with a mouse/keyboard in mind and minimal gamepad support. But it's worth pointing out for others who share my preference.
Instead, the best aspect of the game in terms of gameplay is without a doubt the food progression system. Basically, experience point gains in this game are tied directly to eating food. You eat something, you get exp. This alone wouldn’t be anything noteworthy, but what IS noteworthy is the way the system is implemented. Experience in Zwei is an inherently risk vs reward proposition. By eating the food items you’ve gathered right away, you can use them as a consumable to get free emergency healing in dungeons. If you save up 10 of a certain food type, however, you can trade them up for a much better item in town- an item that will not only give you a bigger one-use heal, but will provide a bigger exp gain than those 10 items would’ve given you altogether. Eventually, you can even save up 10 of the exchanged dishes for another tier of item above that, which was extremely satisfying to see after finally saving them all up.
Therefore, aggressive and risky gameplay pays huge dividends for the player in Zwei. The longer you go through the dungeons while risking death by not eating, the more you will be rewarded with a relative amount of bonus exp when you’re finally back in the town. It's a really simple but brilliant mechanic that increases tension while in dungeons while simultaneously increasing the satisfaction of completing dungeons with a handicap. The entire gameplay loop revolves around this system of tradeoffs, and I’m thankful it does. Because along with the charming script, it was one of the few aspects of the game that actually compelled me to play it to the end.
Zwei isn’t very good in a lot of ways. But the satisfying gameplay loop and occasionally strong script carry it. I don’t really regret the 15 or 20 hours I ended up spending on it, since it was easy to quickly plow through the endgame once I was feeling ready to move on. But I doubt I’ll ever touch it again unless it’s to play the Typing of Ys minigame. That shit on hard difficulty was one of the most randomly peak and jarringly-brutal minigames I’ve ever played. Doubly so by comparsion, since the main game of Zwei is a cakewalk. I’d recommend the minigame for Ys fans on the merit of that challenge alone, plus some cool references to Ys Books I and II which are among my favs in the series. But... maybe only if you type over 100 WPM. If not, it’s basically impossible.
Otherwise, I’d only be comfortable recommending Zwei to hardcore Falcom fans. Or those who dig short, comfy, and very lighthearted (borderline to a fault) JRPGs without the narrative or mechanical substance to deepen your investment.
Zwei is aesthetically great for the most part. It has strong background art which feels reminiscent of Legend of Mana’s isometric 2D style in the town and field. It boasts fantastic character designs- especially the main duo who feel straight up inspired by Mint and Rue from Dewprism/Threads of Fate. Pipiro’s big poofy robe with the fluffy cotton balls from head to toe is one of the comfiest and most recognizable character designs of the era imo.
However, the in-dungeon models, animations, and environments are much less impressive- the models in particular which border on uncanny. They’re super bug-eyed and have a creepy waddle when they move. Additionally, calling the attack animation an “animation” is kinda generous to begin with. It’s more like the model just dashes forward for a sec. Think Pokemon SwSh's attack animations but not quite as overtly hilarious. These areas of complaint aren’t anything too deal breaking, but when compared to the stronger aspects of the game’s visuals, it’s definitely kinda jarring.
While the visuals are solid overall, the writing is what grabs your attention from the start. In terms of like… plot? Hell no. The actual narrative itself has very little substance or intrigue to it. It’s purely just to get you moving in the dungeons and guide you towards the end. The dialogue, however, especially from Pipiro, is great at times. I think Falcom (or whoever translated it, xseed i guess? haven’t actually looked into it) knew this game would thrive off comedy and generally not taking itself seriously. The script is very light and oftentimes a straight up meme. Not in a bad way either, the quips consistently landed for me. Well... for a while, at least.
The script kinda lost its luster after the first few hours for me though, ngl. I think it’s because the NPC dialogue and actual plot were way below what I was expecting from a falcom title in this era, having played the Trails in the Sky trilogy beforehand. The script def makes a strong first impression, but you quickly come to realize that everyone’s dialogue other than Pipiro (and the occasional cringe gem from Pokkle) just kind of sucks. It definitely has its moments tho, Pipiro screaming “calm your tits” during Pokkle’s literal biggest character development moment fucking killed me.
Combat is not this game’s strong suit either. It’s clunky, mashy, and overly simplistic. Nothing actively bad, just thoroughly mid. The inventory/menuing is also worth mentioning cuz it was kind of a nightmare to play on controller at times. That is admittedly on me for stubbornly using it even though the game was clearly designed with a mouse/keyboard in mind and minimal gamepad support. But it's worth pointing out for others who share my preference.
Instead, the best aspect of the game in terms of gameplay is without a doubt the food progression system. Basically, experience point gains in this game are tied directly to eating food. You eat something, you get exp. This alone wouldn’t be anything noteworthy, but what IS noteworthy is the way the system is implemented. Experience in Zwei is an inherently risk vs reward proposition. By eating the food items you’ve gathered right away, you can use them as a consumable to get free emergency healing in dungeons. If you save up 10 of a certain food type, however, you can trade them up for a much better item in town- an item that will not only give you a bigger one-use heal, but will provide a bigger exp gain than those 10 items would’ve given you altogether. Eventually, you can even save up 10 of the exchanged dishes for another tier of item above that, which was extremely satisfying to see after finally saving them all up.
Therefore, aggressive and risky gameplay pays huge dividends for the player in Zwei. The longer you go through the dungeons while risking death by not eating, the more you will be rewarded with a relative amount of bonus exp when you’re finally back in the town. It's a really simple but brilliant mechanic that increases tension while in dungeons while simultaneously increasing the satisfaction of completing dungeons with a handicap. The entire gameplay loop revolves around this system of tradeoffs, and I’m thankful it does. Because along with the charming script, it was one of the few aspects of the game that actually compelled me to play it to the end.
Zwei isn’t very good in a lot of ways. But the satisfying gameplay loop and occasionally strong script carry it. I don’t really regret the 15 or 20 hours I ended up spending on it, since it was easy to quickly plow through the endgame once I was feeling ready to move on. But I doubt I’ll ever touch it again unless it’s to play the Typing of Ys minigame. That shit on hard difficulty was one of the most randomly peak and jarringly-brutal minigames I’ve ever played. Doubly so by comparsion, since the main game of Zwei is a cakewalk. I’d recommend the minigame for Ys fans on the merit of that challenge alone, plus some cool references to Ys Books I and II which are among my favs in the series. But... maybe only if you type over 100 WPM. If not, it’s basically impossible.
Otherwise, I’d only be comfortable recommending Zwei to hardcore Falcom fans. Or those who dig short, comfy, and very lighthearted (borderline to a fault) JRPGs without the narrative or mechanical substance to deepen your investment.