Rolan’s Curse 2 – Cursed With Being Too Legit To Quit

Portable games will surprise you again and again with their propensity to bear the most delicious fruit, gems and earnest surprises with stellar frequency. And there have been many times that I’ve been presented with a Game Boy game that I’d never encountered before, hearing little to nothing about it beforehand. My working rule collecting Game Boy is that if I haven’t heard of it, and it’s affordable, then roll the dice. I found Rolan’s Curse 2 at a local retro shop, was blindsided by it, and did just that. Rolled for initiative, and struck. Where does this game fall on the loot table?

This is one Curse you can talk about without washing your mouth out with soap!!
This is one Curse you can talk about without washing your mouth out with soap!!
Stylish 8)
Stylish 8)

Rolan’s Curse 2 is a top down action adventure/RPG on the Game Boy. Where the first game had distinct chapters, this one features a large interconnected world. And while there are specific regions, you can backtrack through most of the world. And what’s really cool is that this time you get to assemble a party.

This isn't the entire scope of the map, but you get an impression that this is far more interconnected than the first game right from the start.
This isn’t the entire scope of the map, but you get an impression that this is far more interconnected than the first game right from the start.

You can have four party members at a time – your hero and three additional members. None of them seem bad, but you’ll definitely find favourites. In Rolan’s Curse, you could only hold one special item at a time. This is circumvented by having multiple characters. Every character has a specific primary weapon – ranged or melee, and a special ability or item. These can heal you, or destroy obstacles, or simply deal damage. There’s variety here and most characters can upgrade their ability – usually by completing a task in a town. But this often drastically changes the function of the ability – so sometimes you might even want to keep someone at their default, rather than overwriting it. There’s room to experiment here.

Villages give insight into characters that can join your party, and offer hints as to where you might need to go to complete their specific upgrade quest. The world isn't so big and labyrinthine that you actually need this, but the flavour text is definitely welcome.
Villages give insight into characters that can join your party, and offer hints as to where you might need to go to complete their specific upgrade quest. The world isn’t so big and labyrinthine that you actually need this, but the flavour text is definitely welcome.

The downside is in leveling up characters. You must find treasure chests with portraits of characters for them to level up. Some get stronger faster than others so lategame characters can usually catch up quickly. The downside I mentioned is that if you don’t have a character in your active party then the treasure chest that would have an absentee’s portrait you will instead get a generic item instead. Now, these chests respawn until you get the level-up so you aren’t locked out of the advancement but there’s no way to tell that there was a portrait there. This could make backtracking very meandering, but if you stick with your favourite characters this doesn’t really present an issue. Most parties seem viable and consumables aren’t in short supply if you need a quick pick-me-up. So it’s a minor beef, but one that made me reluctant to switch it up and try characters I hadn’t used in a while.

Since I have Pit in my active party, I am able to find his portrait in this chest and level him up. If I didn't have Pit, this chest would hold a small restorative, most likely. But as far as I can tell would respawn if I came back here with him.
Since I have Pit in my active party, I am able to find his portrait in this chest and level him up. If I didn’t have Pit, this chest would hold a small restorative, most likely. But as far as I can tell would respawn if I came back here with him.
Level-Ups are a bit disparate. I just recruited Lane so she's Level 1, Pit is Level because I just completed his area. And the Hero has found a few upgrades along the way. But all growth is not equal. Lane and Pit will receive many level-ups throughout the game, but later characters can start stronger and develop more quickly. It allows you to either keep your early favourites or switch them out as you recruit newbies.
Level-Ups are a bit disparate. I just recruited Lane so she’s Level 1, Pit is Level 6 because I just completed his area. And the Hero has found a few upgrades along the way. But all growth is not equal. Lane and Pit will receive many level-ups throughout the game, but later characters can start stronger and develop more quickly. It allows you to either keep your early favourites or switch them out as you recruit newbies.

Enemies serve more as environmental obstacles once again, though their purpose is more robust than in Rolan’s Curse. Particularly because they can drop consumables, such as health potions. So it’s worth it to battle them as you go. Besides which, enemy placement is often fairly smart spawning in at times to box you in or block you from behind. And the monsters have tons of flavour, well designed sprites and clear and distinct functions. They work very well.

"Totally Not Link" encounters Nautiloids and Giant Frogs in a Mushroom forest. Already cool and cute enemies and great environments, even in the very first "dungeon" area.
“Totally Not Link” encounters Nautiloids and Giant Frogs in a Mushroom forest. Already cool and cute enemies and great environments, even in the very first “dungeon” area.

Bosses are big and look killer, beautiful. While they can be predictable, there are a number of different patterns and encounter styles here that keep things mixed up. I was always excited to see just what lurked in that next lair. It’s sort of unfortunate that they kind of promote just zerging the boss though, due to the character movement it’s difficult to play safe in a lot of these fights. So sometimes you’re just going to mash the button, though the option is there if you want to try it more elegantly.

This spooky boss tile leads to a Boss encounter. Bosses can devolve into simple mashing but the option is there to fight them with strategy. They're all big and beautiful.
This spooky boss tile leads to a Boss encounter. Bosses can devolve into simple mashing but the option is there to fight them with strategy. They’re all big and beautiful.

With a real sense of progression in the game you want to see what’s next. Where you’re going, who you’re going to meet, and how that next level will change your characters. The world feels much more alive this time around, and you feel much more free to explore. It’s still a fairly short game, but there’s a lot of venues and beasties in here so it stays interesting. That’s the thing. With the variety of enemies and locations, I never felt like it was getting old or recycled.

This is important because the game is a little sluggish. It’s much better than the first game in that respect, but it can still be a little slow going. If the game wasn’t interesting and if I didn’ feel compelled to see what was waiting for me, I wouldn’t be nearly as forgiving as I am.

The presentation is a treat. Everything is clean and discernible, and just looks good. Rolan’s Curse already looked good, but this improves upon the visuals really well. Effects when you use Kyle’s thunder rod, or the size of bosses, or the gradual widening of your sword’s arc as you level up. Information is clearly presented and presented well. And the music is totally on point, bloody excellent. If you don’t play Rolan’s Curse 2, at least look up some of the tunes.

Rolan’s Curse 2 is robust, but still bite-sized. There are battery saves here, and the game is compact yet dense. While the story and dialogue isn’t deep, it’s benign and provides a hook. The characters you meet for your party have personality and the flavour from people around them provide some background. So it’s not exactly shallow, either. It’s sort of just indicative of the era and all of the trappings that come with it.

Your heartstrings are thus pulleth.
Your heartstrings are thus pulleth.

The Game Boy is a mighty system. Some incredible games are born from the limitations the platform imposes, and there’s a reason that it possessed so much longevity and is so beloved. It’s unfortunate that Rolan’s Curse is such an unknown factor, because it is a quality game. If you’re putting together a Game Boy collection it’s a definite contender. Perhaps Link’s Awakening mastered control and gameplay, perhaps Final Fantasy Adventure/Seiken Densetsu had buckets and buckets more dialogue. But Rolan’s Curse 2 does its own thing and does it well, and offers the always welcome combination of being a curiosity that is also great.

Go forth!

 

3 Replies to “Rolan’s Curse 2 – Cursed With Being Too Legit To Quit”

  1. I think this is the most active you’ve been with posts in such a short amount of time, but it’s good to hear your in=depth impressions on the games you’ve completed.

    This one seems like an improvement on most things except length. These seem like pretty good games you scored for cheap, even if they’re not amazing, just for their more obscure value. I wonder what the rarity level of these are.

  2. Yeah, I think I beat this one in two evenings as opposed to Rolan’s Curse’s couple of hours. It’s not exactly long, but I did play the heck out of it.

    Not amazing, but still really good. My appreciation mostly comes from the things RC2 does differently from other ARPGs on the Game Boy. Link’s Awakening has better design than most games on the platform and Final Fantasy Adventure has more scope than most. But Rolan’s Curse 2, despite relative simplicity did its own thing. Offering something unique in an established genre or platform always brings a grin to my face.

    I don’t know much about Game Boy rarity but neither one are super common around here, or at least I would have bought them on sight out of curiosity. Looking on some online guides, Rolan’s Curse 2 falls about middle of the pack in scarcity and that makes sense, it’s worth 2-2.5x what Rolan’s Curse 1 is. Game Boy in many cases hasn’t suffered the price bloat a lot of home consoles have so I’m loving it right now. There are some serious exceptions, but mostly it’s pretty accessible at the moment.

  3. At least the sequel seems to have improved on the first instead of just repeating its flaws or being worse.

    Ah! That’s good for collectors like yourself.

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