Nostalgia for the Nintendo DS is the latest and greatest game from the developers that brought you Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV for the DS. This latest outing was conceived ten years ago and, only now, has finally come together in this unique RPG. Set in the 19th century, you’ll take control of Eddie and his friends as they embark on a worldwide journey visiting locales such as Cairo and London. So is Nostalgia a breath of fresh air? Or does this adventure fall short?

The story for Nostalgia begins with the world’s most famous adventure, Gilbert Brown of England, as he tours the world in his airship seeking adventure. One fateful time; however, Gilbert encounters a mysterious organization and goes missing. Back in England, the news is given to Gilbert’s wife and son, Eddie. Eddie believes his father is out there somewhere and he makes up his mind to search for him. Eddie encounters new friends along the way such as Pad, Melody, and Fiona who aid in his quest to find his father. It may sound like a pretty basic plot, but believe me, there are plenty of twists and turns as you progress through the game. You’ll have to fly all across the world searching for various treasures, battling monsters and sky pirates, and finding clues as to the whereabouts of Eddie’s father. Each character brings their own personality to the group and it makes for an interesting story that’s reminiscent of the great SNES RPGs in the 90s.

From a gameplay perspective, many long-time RPG gamers will be familiar with the system. The game uses basic RPG mechanics such as hit points (HP), magic points (MP), and experience points (XP) for gaining levels. Each character has a weapon that he or she uses and each character has their own set of ‘skills’. Skills can be obtained by leveling up and then be ‘advanced’ by using skill points (SP) which are earned after battles. This allows the player to level up specific skills throughout the game. So if you want Eddie’s Combo Attack to have more power, simply use some SP to advance it to another level. It’s a very deep system and can be used to customize the balance of each character in battles. You may want one character to have more Attack power or critical damage than another, and you may want one character with higher level skills for healing your party members. It’s all up to you as the player and what battle style you prefer. For me, I found it was easier to upgrade my attack skills for Eddie and Pad, more than Melody or Fiona. Eddie and Pad have more HP, so it made sense to make them the brawlers or ‘tanks’ of the party. Melody and Fiona I use more as the healers and magic power characters.

When you’re in battle, the gameplay is all turn-based, and on the bottom screen, you’re given your attack order. This allows you to plan your moves accordingly with what the enemies are doing. If there are more enemies, you may want to defend more than attack, or focus your characters’ attacks at certain enemies first. If there are 1 or 2 enemies, you may just want to use one of your attack skills to wipe them out swiftly. Battles in your airship are still turn-based, but there’s a little more strategy because the enemy can be positioned in front and to the sides of your airship. This factors in to how effective your attacks will be. After each battle, you’ll receive experience points, skill points, and gold and be given a Rank. ‘S’ rank is the best and will give you more points and gold accordingly. If you lose a party member in battle or take too long, this will negatively affect your rank. So focus on being efficient in battles and level up faster. This will greatly benefit you in some of the later areas, trust me!

Nostalgia is one of the best looking 3D games on the DS to date, period. If you’ve played either Final Fantasy III or IV on the DS, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Not only are all the character models beautifully rendered, their animations in battle are fluid and compliment the gameplay very well. No other RPG that I’ve played on the DS uses the camera better in battle. Each move will give different angles on the action, which really makes the game fun and each battle unique. Some RPGs can get monotonous with the same battle presentation, but Nostalgia goes above and beyond to immerse you in the game.

Conclusion

Nostalgia combines progressive visuals, great gameplay, and a deep skill system to create a unique, RPG experience for the Nintendo DS. Once you complete the game, you really haven’t finished the adventure. There are tons of side quests and other missions to challenge even after you’ve completed the main story. Nostalgia is a great game for both long-time RPG fans and a great introduction for newcomers to the genre.

Nostalgia gets a 9.2/10