Something happened to me when Final Fantasy VII vigorously grasped the nation, moved jaded gamers to tears, and raised the graphical-ante. Some people were brought into gaming for the first time and others witnessed the rebirth. I realized that I’m not too fond of Japanese RPGs anymore. I try to enjoy them, but in the aftermath of the never-ending fantasy, I often feel as though I’m watching a movie, for which I continuously press a button to keep it rolling. Despite my hopes, Yggdra Union is another entry into the realm of cutscene role-playing, albeit without the cinematic flair.

The story of Princess Yggdra and her ragtag cohorts battling across the land to reclaim a lost empire is a cliché one, yet appealing in its simplicity. The 2D sprites are cheerfully vibrant, courtesy of Satoko Kiyuduki, the creator of Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro. I never read the manga, but I might have to now. Even the artistic styles of the menu and the interface boast undeniable charms. With so much to love on the surface, the substance is stubbornly time-consuming to find – about five hours to be exact.

Players are methodically eased into the mechanics of the game’s unique take on turn-based strategy, and to be honest, there’s quite a bit to remember. In addition to the traditional statistics of characters, the battles ahead are equally decided by the Tactics Cards players choose to have in their hands. Each turn begins with the choosing of a card, which dictates how far you can move, your attack power, and other abilities that remain a mystery for some substantial time. After each victory, the cards rise in power along with the characters, so it only makes sense to keep pumping up the same cards, right? Absolutely not, but you shouldn’t know that yet.

The only things to worry about, initially, are the weapons, positions, and genders of your characters. Like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors—every type of weapon is strong and weak against others, although defeat and victory are never left to weapon choice alone. Much of that rests on the other two factors. With proper positioning you can go into battle with multiple characters. It takes some finesse and strategy to pull off properly though, because the gender of the lead character determines which cohorts on the map-grid will join – men lead characters lined up diagonally to them and women arrange adjacently. The same goes for defense, so it could be disastrous to line up everyone diagonally, only to have a female character be attacked.

Battle is a breeze once you get the formations down and continue attacking with the most powerful cards as the overhead map switches to a ground-level skirmish between rivals. One side charges in for the advantage, the other recoups and launches a counter-attack, and the battle continues until one remains. That summarizes the flow of battle for the first five hours. It’s straightforward, easily understood, and utterly boring. Your only function in those initial hours is pressing one button to confirm battle, followed by a minute or so of watching the two sides swinging their swords at the air. Seriously, the screen is split right down the middle with neither side making contact.