''Zwei: The Arges Adventure'' is an 2001 action role-playing game developed by

Nihon Falcom is a Japanese video game developer, best known for their '' Ys'', ''The Legend of Heroes'', and ''Trails'' series. The company was founded in March 1981, making them one of the oldest active video game companies. They are credited with pioneeri ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable. An English version for Windows was released by

Xseed Games Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related mat ...

in January 2018. A sequel, '' Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection'', was released in September 2008. In reference to the game's title,

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pl ...

consists of alternating between two main characters, Pipiro and Pokkle. Pipiro is able to perform magical spells and techniques, while Pokkle executes only physical attacks. The game's plot centers around Pokkle and Pipiro and their quest to track down six goddess statues stolen from their village.

Gameplay

The game is reminiscent of

dungeon crawler A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "Dungeon#In fiction, dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may ...

s, but includes a larger focus on RPG elements and puzzles. Players control two characters, Pipiro and Pokkle, and can swap between them at any time. Pipiro launches magic at enemies, while Pokkle fights with a drill-like weapon. Both characters can utilise elemental attacks to target enemy weaknesses, with Pipiro's elemental spells also allowing access to new dungeon areas. Scoring multiple hits on enemies increase the drop rate of spoils and earns combo badges, which lets the player initiate combo attacks that damage the entire screen. Players begin their adventure at Puck Village, where they can converse with NPC characters to gain clues to progress in their adventure. Immediately outside the village is the

overworld An overworld (sometimes referred to as a hub world) is, in a broad sense, commonly an area within a video game that interconnects all its levels or locations. They are mostly common in role-playing games, though this does not exclude other vide ...

of Arshes, where dungeons and other locations can be accessed. Dungeons are divided into several stages, with each stage possessing three floors. Many stages can be completed in different orders, although each stage offers a hint plate outside that shows the recommended Level to challenge it. At the end of each dungeon is a powerful dungeon boss who guards one of the goddess statues. Instead of defeating enemies to level up like in most RPGs, experience points are gained by consuming food items, which are dropped by monsters and obtained through other methods. Ten of the same food item can be combined, at Puck Village's restaurant, to create a higher tier food item that awards more experience than the individual items. Early on, players can obtain a pet, ranging from various species of

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s and

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

s, who will follow the main characters, assisting in collecting items dropped by enemies. Letting pets tag along also unlocks the highest level combo attacks. Beyond the main game, there are a number of special items that serve as

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

accessories and can operate while the main game is closed. The first accessory, obtained automatically, is the "Pet Monitor", a basic adventure game that stars the pet from the main game. Users can select one of two choices at various intervals, which can lead to the pet's level increasing or reward items in the main game. By default the game randomly makes choices and can progress without the user's influence. Other accessories include a calendar,

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and t ...

, calculator,

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...

"Mona Mona" and typing tutor "Typing with Ys". A

shooting game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

called "Zwei!! Shooting" can also be accessed from the main game itself.

Plot

Granvallen is a mysterious world of floating continents, where magic once prospered. Everything changed one thousand years ago, when mankind and demons fought in the Great Sorcery War. The war was instigated by the six demon lords, who opposed the twin goddesses Aplyes and Espina and attacked the world of Granvallen. After a period of five hundred years, the curtains of strife closed when Tiara, the Priestess Princess of the Holy Kingdom of Valence, and the heroic Crusader Paradys defeated Demon Lord Vesper at the floating continent of Arshes. Granvallen suffered many losses and the magical civilisation quickly faded away. Five hundred years after the devastating battle, the world of Granvallen ushers in an age of peace and those who can wield magic are a rare sight to behold. A girl named Pipiro and a boy named Pokkle are two 14 year old children who live at the village of Puck, situated in the remote island continent of Arshes. One day, they spot a mysterious masked man enter the village's temple and decide to follow him. The man steals six Goddess statues, the village's treasures, with Pipiro and Pokkle unable to stop him. The pair decide to leave the village to retrieve the statues for their own reasons and thus their journey begins.

Versions

''Zwei: The Arges Adventure'' originated as a Windows game and was later

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

to the PS2 and PSP. The PS2 port was handled by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. I ...

and is largely faithful to the original, but doesn't contain the "Typing of Ys" mini-game or any of the desktop applications. Furthermore, the sequence leading up to the final dungeon was modified, with the player required to complete four previously optional stages, now with reduced difficulty, before progressing. The PSP port by Falcom omits another mini-game, "Mona Mona", but includes character artwork during conversations, additional voice snippets and a re-arranged soundtrack option. The character artwork was also redone to fit in with the sequel's style. An online version, ''Zwei!! Online'', was released in 2007 by Korean developer Neonsoft Corporation.

Reception

References

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Role-playing video games Action role-playing video games Nihon Falcom games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Portable games Video games developed in Japan Windows games 2001 video games Xseed Games games Single-player video games