Here’s another game from the “I took too long to get to this” list! Yes, I know, I say that a lot… not the part about the list I mean. Point is, I meant to review Rhapsody II a lot earlier, and then a bunch of shit happened, and then I played a whole bunch of games in that time. And now I need to write reviews for games I completed a year ago. Well, I don’t need, to, but not doing so would mean not talking about some amazing fucking games that more people need to know about.
I’ve already covered Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, and It has a very special place in my heart. I had been hoping for years to see its sequels get some sort of English release, and 2023 finally saw that happen. By the time I reached the end, I fell in love with this world and its characters all over again, and felt sad that there’s only one game left in this series (which I still haven’t played, but fully intend to). That being said, I spent so much time hyped that this game was finally in English, that I forgot it was an NIS property.
For those unaware, NIS America has a less than stellar reputation among JRPG fans. Some of their biggest localization fuckups have included their disastrous initial release of Ys VIII, game breaking bugs in The Witch and the Hundred Knights, and having gutted Ar Tonelico II of so much text that it needed the Breath of Fire II treatment while also leaving in game breaking bugs. The DS port of the 1st Rhapsody was also subjected to a similar disaster, having content cut in the English release, in addition to game breaking bugs.
While Rhapsody II’s localization was nowhere near as disastrous as the previous examples, there is still plenty to be criticized. The most jarring omission is the lack of English song covers, which quite literally puts this below the quality of Atlus’s localization of the PS1 era, and that was the Atlus that turned a guy black in Persona 1. This will also end up being jarring since the recent port of the first Rhapsody licensed that exact localization.
I kinda saw this coming though. The fact that these two games needed to be bundled together to be seen as profitable lead me to believe that they wouldn’t be able to dub the songs. They also probably knew that most fans would just switch the the Japanese to begin with, so I can kinda see why they didn’t go that route, especially since this game has voice acting and the first game didn’t. That being said, would it have killed them to write out lyric translations that match the tune of the song? It kinda takes me out of the experience when I mentally read the lyrics along with the music, but run out of syllables halfway through. I understand doing this with just an anime opening, but with a game based around musical performance, it’s inexcusable.
On top of that, a lot of the songs will have some standard dialogue between character before they start singing. For some reason, NISA decided against translating them or adding any subtitles. The localization doesn’t have any other problems, and the voice acting is pretty solid, but leaving certain points untranslated is just not acceptable. That’s literally the entire point of a localization! I could maybe excuse this in a fan translation, since adding subtitles to a spot where there’s no text requires additional programming, but this is a professional, sold for profit release!
That being said, the game is still pretty damn good even with the localization issues, and unless one is willing to learn Japanese, there isn’t another way to experience it at this point in time. I waited over a decade to play this game, and people who played the PS1 original waited even longer, so they kinda got me by the balls on this one. Yeah no, I’m not doing that “I’ll boycott it so the developer assumes that the series isn’t profitable” shit.
I must imagine that there’s a bit of a culture shock that comes from fans of the first Rhapsody playing this over two decades after the original, considering that this amount of time is comparable to the in universe time gap between these two games. It certainly made things emotional for me to see all the familiar characters and locations, and all of the continuity nods to the original game. And to think the two games were released little under 1 year apart in Japan.
I enjoyed Rhapsody II’s story, but I did notice some striking differences in tone from the first game. Some may recall how I described part of the first game’s story as shockingly dark in places, almost comparable to that of more recent games that use a kid friendly facade to mask its true intentions. This tone is notably absent from Rhapsody II, making it feel like a more traditional JRPG, albeit a good one. There was even one part of the game that re-did the first game’s Romeo & Juliet side plot but with a happier ending. While I won’t say that this makes Rhapsody II’s story any worse, it does make it less unique, which is unfortunate.
One area where I felt Rhapsody II dropped the ball was the central romance between Kururu and Cello. These two not only don’t have any chemistry together, and the game even points this out when they first meet. It goes out of its way to draw up a comparison between Cello and Prince Ferdinand from the first game, all the way down to utilizing the same music and location. This game then sweeps the rug out from under you by actually having Cello be rude and uncaring towards Kururu. In a properly constructed narrative, this would set Rhapsody II apart from the first game by having Kururu realize she doesn’t need a prince of her own, and doesn’t need to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Instead, this game goes with the sexist plot type of “female lead can’t explain why she’s in love, but chooses to follow her heart.” After all, nothing can possibly go wrong if you delude yourself into thinking that someone who treats you like shit is your one true love. The fact that the first game was so progressive makes so so jarring to see this. This is made even worse by the fact that the beginning of the game relentlessly ship teases Kururu with her female BFF Crea, who she has significantly greater chemistry with. Oh yeah, Rhapsody II did its yuri cockblocking over a decade before The Legend of Korra did.
I should clarify that I don’t technically know if the original plan was for Kururu to realize she doesn’t need her prince, because her true love was beside her all along, but it is what is set up. Rhapsody II is not subtle about Crea’s feelings for Kururu, and she even outright confesses in one scene, a scene where Kururu just sort of doesn’t respond. Honestly, I don’t know whether to feel bitter towards this game for chickening out on this type of story, or to respect the hell out of it for even trying for this in 1999 Japan. Keep in mind, same sex marriage is still not legal in Japan even today (though that may change soon).
Thankfully, every bit of charm, character, and personality from the first Rhapsody is also carried over, and this game is a delight to play. The humor and writing is as memorable as ever, and I got quite attached to every character. Even Cello, who I bitched about previously, does have some decent development, and I don’t consider him a bad character, I just don’t think he’s a good love interest. I need to emphasize here that, my bitching about compulsory heterosexuality aside, that there is a lot to love about Rhapsody II’s story, and it does an amazing job at expanding on the Marl Kingdom universe.
The story is not only dripping with charm, but each of the NPCs are so well written, that one will want to go out of their way to talk to every remote character in out of the way locations. In fact, there’s often gameplay related incentives to do so, in addition to added dialogue. The only real issue is that this means that you can miss certain items and unlockables by not thinking to make the right turn in a dungeon, or to backtrack to a certain area during a specific chapter, which can be annoying.
One major improvement over the first game is in Rhapsody II’s presentation. The dungeons and environments look significantly more expressive. While there are some reused backgrounds and music, it’s nowhere near the extent of the previous game, which makes Rhapsody II feel a lot more like the adventure that it’s supposed to be. The sprite work is breathtaking to look at, and this game was basically love at first sight, no pun intended.
The music was also fantastic, and has easily lived up to the quality of the first game. While I didn’t find the musical numbers as strong as the first game, I can’t tell if that’s because they weren’t in English or not. My favorite musical number is easily Sonia’s song, Code of the Dignified Flower, a haunting number about how pursuing a career path as a knight captain means giving up on your dreams of being swept off your feet in a moonlit dress.
It’s more or less about how even for women, masculinity is like a prison, which I know sounds ironic as hell coming from a trans woman. That being said, I relate a lot to Sonia’s character, as I’ve always made a point of displaying strength so I can look after others, which in turn means a hesitancy towards showing vulnerability. Even after having transitioned, I still haven’t fully escaped the expectation that showing power and strength means I can’t be weak or vulnerable. The irony is, I very much would like to be swept off my feet in a moonlit dress much like Sonia does, I just want another woman to do it.
The main soundtrack is also a step up from the first game, with the main boss theme “Big Battle” having a much stronger melody than the first game’s “Fear.” What was also a welcome surprise was to see Rhapsody II embracing the trope of the “special boss theme,” with the tense and energetic “Roar it Out, Willpower Magic!” Oh, and then there’s the absolute majesty of the final boss theme, Last Dance! Yes, I very much like my JRPG boss music, if you couldn’t tell!
The gameplay is yet another major improvement from the original game. The grid based tactical approach is done away in favor of a traditional turn based style, and unlike the DS version of Rhapsody 1, this is a welcome change. The battle system resembles that of Lunar, but much easier (but nowhere near the extent of Rhapsody DS). You unlock five characters throughout the game, and each have their own basic functions and mechanics that you learn over the course of the game. There was generally enough challenge factor to be engaged, but it was not a hard game.
In terms of content, you’ll likely get about 20 hours worth, which makes it fairly short by JRPG standards. However, what you get is entirely worth it. While the PS1 was home to a number of classics of the genre, which means that Rhapsody II has a lot to compete with, it is strongly recommended for fans of Lunar, or of stuff such as Neptunia or Disgaea.
Even with the localization issues, I’m immensely grateful that I got the chance to play Rhapsody II, and I look forward to giving Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom a go as well. Also just a reminder, there’s still one entry in the series that hasn’t been localized. Antiphona no Seikahime: Tenshi no Score Op.A for the PSP has still not seen any sort of translation, official or fanmade. So if you want to see that game in English, you know where to direct your attention to.
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