Tsugunai

Tsugunai is a videogame published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2 game console.

Story

The main character, Reece, is a Raven, a sort of mercenary who takes dangerous jobs to earn a living. The game opens as Reece climbs an ancient tower to retrieve the Treasure Orb, a sacred artifact. In doing so, he angers the gods, who retaliate by seperating Reece's body and soul. In order to atone for his sins, Reece must demonstrate kindness and courage by assisting the denizens of a small fishing village. He accomplishes this by possessing the bodies of those he needs to help, in order to allow them to accomplish tasks that they will not or cannot accomplish by themselves. In time, he ends up saving the village from a great evil.

Characters

The prinicple characters that Reece possesses throughout the story are:

Fisela : A tomboyish female fisherman who hates her father. She believes that her father didn't care for her mother enough in her last days.

Ashgo : An apprentice monk. He is a complete klutz and gets in people's way, but the abbot sees his potential.

Raffer : The former commander of the castle guard. He has become a fugitive, but has amnesia and can't remember what crime he committed.

Ifem : A Raven who owes a large debt. He takes jobs that he can't handle in order to pay it off.

Gameplay

The game is broken up into around 35 different "quests". Some of them involve the prinicple characters, while some are more peripheral and let you explore the lives of some of the other characters in the village. All combat-oriented quests involve the principle characters. Once Reece meets the quest's objective, the quest is solved and the story advances, often changing the situation in the village and opening up new quests.

Even though the game involves many different characters, the mechanics treat the characters as equal, except in the case of the weapons they can equip. Magic, supplementary equipment, and items are carried over from quest to quest, regardless of who Reece possesses.

Things to Know

One thing that stands out in Tsugunai's credit is that the music was composed by famous videogame composer Yasunori Mitsuda.

Sales of Tsugunai were poor in both Japan and in North America, due in part to poor market and the unusual nature of the game presentation.