Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena

Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena

"Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena" is actually decent as far as RPGMaker goes, which for those that don't know is a very popular software that allows anyone to easily construct a "RolePlaying Game", but most of its users end up releasing only the most lazy and mediocre creations using the default assets in the engine. As stated in the product's store-page description:

"you are not a hero, a noble ruler, or even a combatant. Instead, you are the new owner of a team of fighting slaves, one of the many factions who compete for the adoration of the common people in the ancient storied arenas of the Crownlands. Your task will be to oversee the training of your fighters and build your estate into an effective school of combat, all while trying to enhance your personal reputation and standing among the nobles of the realm. This is an expensive business, and the king demands his taxes - so you must make sure to manage your treasury with care and attention. Glory awaits those with a bold heart and a steadfast mind, as well as a place for their faction among the legends of the arena ..."

I find this narrative premise to be refreshing and engaging, as "Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena" isn't trying to be more than what it is nor shooting for the stars, just minding its own fighting slave business in the name of the King and the ever-increasing (but lawful) taxes. This is an occupation that actually serves a functional, logical purpose in the kingdom's society with no additional fluff, making it justifiable in my view and worthy of keeping around.

Knowing your place is a rare skill in this day and age, with many trying to bite more than they can chew, and "Crown Champion" is firmly aware of its place, maintaining a consistent and steady formula that manages to be entertaining despite essentially being a bare-bones gladiator bootleg and ratgag squad management simulator.

However, here you get what you pay for, and it's good to see some actual attempts at bolder violence in the midst of all the RPGMaker fantasy fluffware and princess nya nya crapware / sh#tc#mware put out by countless incel degen developers who are actually desperate enough to masturbate to pixels. Here the "nudity" is very clearly hostile in nature and not actually trying to sell you some ojou fanfiction. Oh did I mention that you can apparently keep a team of racing horses and even find a romantic companion? While I haven't seen the latter anywhere, the horses are indeed lots of fun and allow you to do some betting on the side and ride out a comfy wave of extra income for your household.

With that said, it's not all sunshine and rainbows here. The personalities of "Crow Champion's" slave army aren't exactly anything to write home about, most of them just bland and insipid AI vomit clones look-alikes or even total garbage with no real value whatsoever - while this makes it much easier for you to give no f#cks about seeing these disposable toon-filth ragdolls die on-screen (or even find it very enjoyable), it would be nice to see some more fleshed-out identities from time to time.

And yes I realize these are not free men, they are slaves with no rights forced to die in the arena, but fighting is meant to be entertaining and the crow-ds (ahah get it?) aren't cheering for John Doe Clone #9595945 who will be forgotten immediately after his face is bashed-in repeatedly with a hammer until it has been maimed beyond recognition, leaving his limp body to rot for the sand worms. No, the crow-d will just go "lol rip" and resume their daily activities.

You also can't skip or control your slaves during the combat, forcing you to watch some pretty dragged out "fighting" animations that are enjoyable for the first 3-5 times and then just become a snoozefest. I also find the so called "nobles" you meet as you climb up the ranks to be one of the most boring and lifeless aspects of the game, and it's unfortunate you can't bash their skulls with a hammer in the arena as they refuse to fight or do anything much whatsoever besides being "nobles" of the realm, that would have been a far more entertaining design approach. Along your journey you will assemble a nice little catering service for your Hamlet, with personnel to serve your every needs from doctors to scribes to cooks (but sadly no sex workers?) and mingle with the kingdom's troubled politics (if you dare) as you build up your reputation.

Overall "Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena" is entertaining and refreshing for a RPGMaker game, while it's a very simple formula that gets repetitive after a while, you still come back to it for the fun and simple clash of brutes. It doesn't force you to think much or even use any portions of your brain beyond the Triune complexes. It's price point is also attractive and affordable to just about any McDonald's employee, so if you're looking for a crude witty punch, "Crown Champion: Legends of the Arena" is a fairly decent option.

This game is an unusual blend of adventure, medieval gladiator manager and real estates upgrade. You start with a newly acquired mansion that’s seen better days, few gold in your pocket and a pair of fighting slaves – and with the goal to become leader in the gladiatorial industry and win the royal tournament. Difficulty is more on the casual side, though you will be hard-pressed from the start to earn money in tournaments, as there are fixed costs that you have to pay every week, so you need to carefully evaluate what investments in equipment, personnel and infrastructure to make, otherwise you may end up going bankrupt. At the end of each week you get the chance to participate in tournaments at pre-determined locations with difficulty level based on your reputation, note that all combats are automatic without any way to control them, so their result largely depends on how often the RNG triggers special combat abilities. The adventuring elements consist of central storyline where you get to indirectly influence the future of your kingdom, and random events that can increase your funds or reputation, or improve abilities of your fighters. Game uses predominantly RPGMaker open assets for graphics and audio to maximum effect, showing that even without original artwork you can still make a very good game. If your interest has been piqued by now, note that the game’s price is more than favorable for the amount of fun that it gives, so it’s definitely a recommended buy if you like this genre.

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That was more intense than I thought. Manfred Man was a terrible fighter But ROLF?!?!?! ROLF Brought me victory in most ways that he could... except for that one time he brought a guy down to 1hp and lost.... I hate this game

If you enjoy gladiator management games this is more of a visual novel in a way, a lot of dialogue and lore, not that much customisation or involvement. Fighters are separated in 6 classes with about 5 unique skills they can learn with some unique equipment and restrictions. Your estate will slowly grow when you can pay for upgrades and staffs, which are very useful but you need to be able to keep a steady income.

It's nice that your fighters actually have a story, I read there are 18 different fighters, you can get up to 4 at a time. Meanwhile it's annoying that you can't control them at all, beside equipment. In battle you have no options at all, you watch them until someone ran out of HP while outside battle you can't even enable or disable skills usage or give them any strategy. So it's totally random, sometimes one fighter will spam regular attack and lose, sometimes it will use it's strongest attacks in the first few turn and win easily. It means you pretty much need to save and reload, reload, reload until you get lucky. Some classes are better against others but it is still very much based if they use the right abilities.

The battles are a letdown, everything else is better than you would expect from most RPG maker game. Progression is good early on but at some point you got the best equipment and it's only about fighting the same battles to level up or load a fight until you get lucky. It feels polished I did not experience any bugs.