CIMA is pretty hard for a GBA game. It suffers from two main problems, and every time I have to wait through the Game Over screen, I lose more will to keep going. But it’s not hard to keep going.

It’s very rewarding. I’m laughably nowhere in the game (Gate World, just beat boss #2; gimme a break, I’ve been busy playing Ikaruga and Rez in honor of 9.9.05), but the area I’ve just entered gave me hope for the rest of the game.

Lemme back up. CIMA is an action-based RPG with an isometric point of view and the ability to collect the frequent monster drops and make potions and powerups. The main mechanic involves leading a small group of civilians around who have minimal (but not nonexistent!) fighting skills. If any member of your entourage dies, it’s over. Get them to the exit, and your job’s done.

I really like exploration and the whole adventure game style, and I was really hoping this would be one, but it’s not. The maps are just big enough though, considering that you’re leading townsfolk across them. I’m fully impressed by the design, actually. The dungeons are showing major innovation and narrative instead of being map after map of space to lead your people across. The previous dungeon had a point where two people in my 4-member party got teleported away. I expected to have to hunt them down, but, admirably, the game puts you in control of one of these people. A guy who’s got nothing to do with vanquishing enemy hordes, has nothing special, and has to PUNCH enemies. And he has no faith in the main character.

That caught me off guard. This reminds me a lot of Riviera, because so much is done to bring life to the characters. It’s even better here, because the people are not perpetually upbeat, they’re emigrants fleeing an evil of some sort, they’re tired, nearly defeated, and the train they were on just got sucked into another dimension. And they act like it, bickering all the way.

It’s your job to control these people, rescue them even though they might despise you, protect them even if they are sure that they’re going to die anyway, and lead them to a safety that may never come. The whole quest has a gravity that most RPGs avoid so they can look cuter.

It’s really a thing to see. But there are drawbacks.

Combat, in most cases, is easy and instinctive. But when you get to a boss, you’ll get killed many times. Mostly, because the attack range of your sword is short and ill-equipped to hit larger monsters. The only way to hit the boss is to get closer, and expose yourself to lots of damage. This blow is softened by a couple of things — for one, you can restart just outside the boss’s lair with all the items you had before you walked in and got yourself killed. Second, some powerups give your sword a shot, like a fully-hearted Link in Zelda. I still died a lot though.

The second thing is the “Secret of Mana” factor of having characters that follow you and follow your directions. That is, they get stuck behind things. Jesus, I never want to see this happen in a game ever again. You have to learn how to negotiate corners and place walking points so that your faithful lemmings don’t get stuck. It’s the worst kind of thing that can happen in this type of game. That said, it’s a minor issue. You just have to learn to deal with it.

Now then, that hope for the future thing that keeps me playing: I just walked into this CIMA-created dungeon, and it made fun of JPRGs ruthlessly. The first conversation here goes like this. I’m paraphrasing, due to my bad memory. =P

Man: “Welcome to Rooda!”
Arc: “What? I didn’t say anything to you.”
Man: “Welcome to Rooda!”
Arc: “Why do you keep saying that?”
Man: “Welcome to Rooda!”
Arc: “What a weirdo.”
Man: “Welcome to Rooda!”
Arc: “Whatever.”

You end up hearing about a prophesy that a Hero will come on THIS VERY DAY! and a dragon that’s wreaking havoc and has captured a young woman who needs to be saved by the Hero. It’s the grandfather of all cliches, the 8-bit RPG plot mechanism. Your characters react incredulously.

The young woman turns out to be a passenger from the train that needs to be saved, bringing you into this fake little cookie-cutter narrative. So, you have to subject yourself to being a character in an antiquated form of the game’s own genre. I laughed.

I thought that was pretty cool. I laughed quite a bit.