Homeland | DJcube

A mysterious world that changes without any effort. It’s free. Let’s go! Let’s join hands and become friends!

JP release: 29th April 2005
NA release: N/A
EU release: N/A
Developer: Chunsoft
Publisher: Chunsoft
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: None

Phantasy Star Online wasn’t the only online RPG, this Japanese exclusive game also shares that honour. Homeland does its online quite a bit differently, though. Instead of a perpetual server where all players would meet, players instead host their own lobbies of up to 35 players and be the dungeon master for it. The benefit to this is that it also works over LAN so if you can get a group of people together, you can set up an online server using emulation or a Wii.

You play as a kid who is having to do his homework (and you actually need to answer a few maths questions to start) when you find a strange creature in your wardrobe. You get to pick a class (with some very different designs – one unlocked from a questionnaire and many more to unlock) and get whisked into the magical world. There’s a simple hub world where you can start adventuring in a series of different words. There’s a very early English translation of the game that translates some tutorials and early instructions, but most is still in Japanese.

You wander around some lovely looking areas, talking to people around town, buying equipment and so on. Out in the adventuring fields, the gameplay is turn-based but with real time elements. When you bump into an enemy, you’ll start battling there and then (and not get whisked to a different screen) and can choose your attacks, items or defence. You’re locked in place (unless select run, which isn’t always successful) but other enemies are still walking around – if they happen to get close, they’ll join in on the battle as well.

It feels quite unique and makes sense with the context of the online mode – it means people can be involved in turn-based battles while other players can still do their own thing. It feels like it would work great, and enemies do respawn so there’s plenty to go around. You can fully team up with another player by holding hands, too, and type out text-based messages to other players. It’s all very cute and charming, although playing on your own requires a large amount of grinding.

You’ll also unlock more spells as you level up – the healing one is quite vital early on, but you can increase your strength, lower the tier of enemies or escape to a safe place using them. You can use the C-stick to select them from a wheel menu to have quick access to all of them. Chunsoft definitely took a gamble in making an online focused game for the GameCube, but it didn’t pay off as this was the last GameCube game with online functionality.

Fun

There are no DPS checks, no tricky boss mechanics to remember (or worry about being berated for forgetting in this turn-based title), and no need to intimately know your chosen role – turn up, do the best you can, and if you need some help then just reach out for someone’s hand.
Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster

Remake or remaster?

A translated remaster for this would be great. It seems like a cute game that deserves a proper chance.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Homeland.