Action RPGs For The Nintendo DS

I've been wanting a portable action RPG, and since I already own a DS, I looked there (having said that, though, there do seem to be a lot more of them for the PSP; maybe I should get one).

The dearth of action RPGs for the DS is pretty amazing. The World Ends With You probably counts, but I'm really looking for a Diablo II clone here. At this point, you could just *do Diablo II* for the thing, FFS. But no. What we've got is mostly crap, and not much of it. So here's me reviewing them as I try them out (yay gamefly!). FWIW, I have high hopes for Legacy Of Ys, because Atlus rules all, but it's not out yet.

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Ring of Fates

What It Is

An action-ish RPG with adorably cute 6 year olds or something as protagonists.

Why I Sent It Back

The control scheme. OMFG, the control scheme. This is real time combat, so monsters are rushing at you, OK? If you want to power up a spell by having another party member cast it with you, you have to (I'm not making this up) hold the right trigger, tap the spell, move the spell target around with the arrow keys (note that both hands are in use now), continue to hold down the right trigger, tap the other character you want to cast the spell with you, and move with the arrow keys again since by now the monster has moved, a lot.

Holy fuckmonkeys do I wish I was making that up.

Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of the Ancient Arts

What It Is

A fairly decent dungeon crawl, with surprisingly well-rendered tits for a DS game.

Why I Sent It Back

You have a "job" and a "class". You pick your class at the beginning, mage in my case. I got 3 skills as a mage, none of which were attack skills. I got 8 skills for my "job".

The job is randomly determined. Ewww. The game doesn't tell you when you're getting your next skill in the tree. Eeeewww. And all the skills I had gotten (something like 7 of them) but one by the time I stopped playing sucked so badly I never used them. As in, my basic attack was more effective.

Not what I'm looking for.

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