(Vita) The Caligula Effect review

An uneven but wholly memorable and unique high-school RPG that mixes interesting mechanics with some fantastic storytelling.

Developer	Aquria
Publisher	Atlus; FuRyu
Franchise	N/A
Genre	Role-playing
PSTV	Yes
Physical English	No

 

World-building & Story

Set in the world of Mobius – an idyllic school setting which is quickly revealed to be a virtual reality created by the mysterious idol μ (pronounced “mew”), The Caligula Effect follows a group of students who discover the lie and band together to find a way to escape, calling themselves the ‘Go-Home Club’.

Even though it’s not the most original premise, blending elements of Persona with Sword Art Online, I still found the game’s setting incredibly compelling. The opening scenes of the self-insert main character realising where he is and finding boundaries of the world resonated with me extremely well, digging its hooks in and establishing a decent mystery. With that said, it does take a while to get going and after the impressiveness of the initial scenes there’s a lull until further elements are introduced.

To escape Mobius, the Go-Home Club attempts to find μ which means tracking down the Ostinato Musicians, a group of students capable of creating brainwashing music that turns people into mindless monsters known as ‘digiheads’ which provide μ with her power to maintain the virtual world. Along the way you’ll discover the reason that Mobius was created and the real-life trauma that a number of characters endured, creating a complex moral web that keeps the intrigue in place right through to the ending. It isn’t the most mind-blowing tale, but I was definitely invested in what was happening.

In what is more than just a little nod to the Persona series, The Caligula Effect allows you to form social bonds with the other members of the Go-Home Club that explore their reasons for coming to Mobius as well as some surprising revelations about their real lives. Although simplistic, these work incredibly well at getting you to like the cast – by the end I was truly rooting for these people to get back to reality, feeling more than just a little attached to every single member.

It helped that the majority of these had genuinely touching moments too. Although each character starts largely as a broad stereotype, they’re slowly layered up as you find out more and more about them – discovering Kotono’s secret was a clever surprise, while Mifue shares a heartbreaking scene towards the end of her social link that felt like a genuine reward for making it so far. Even more frustrating characters like Kotaro became my favourites by the end thanks to some really interesting development – the writers definitely got things right here.

At times it does feel like a bit too much was crammed into too short of a run time – some matters are glossed over and bosses in particular are introduced and disposed of fairly quickly, which is likely an issue of budget rather than anything else. Aside from this though, I was impressed by the game – the characters are likable, it tackles some weighty themes and the overall plot kept me interested enough to see it through to the end.

 

Presentation & Sound

In terms of presentation, The Caligula Effect is an incredibly mixed bag. Your initial impression will be of the stunning world of Mobius with surprisingly beautiful character models, but between the recycled environments and enemy models fatigue will quickly set in. Still, Aquria have managed to craft something generally beautiful with the resources available to them that doesn’t feel out of place next to other otaku RPG’s.

The first thing that will grab you is the gorgeous anime cutscene that opens the game – showing the main character repeating the day over and over helping to demonstrate that he’s trapped in a virtual world. There are a decent number of these throughout the 25 hour run-time and although they are mostly concentrated towards the beginning and end, they’re always gorgeous to look at and fit the tone well (it’s easy to see why the title was adapted into an actual anime).

Character models are equally impressive at first glance – similar to Falcom’s models for something like Tokyo Xanadu they’re decently detailed, coming to life during battle when thorns sprout out of their hearts and weapons appear in their hands. Design-wise, everyone in-game aside from bosses wears the same school uniform (a thematic choice) but the main cast still manage to be an eclectic bunch with Kotono’s beauty and Kotaro’s colourful shirt being the highlights.

Problems set in when it comes to NPC’s as you’re treated to the same few model repeated over and over which gets even worse when it comes to Digiheads – they have very striking designs the first time you see them, but this diminishes on the hundredth. Still, battles are gorgeous to look at with both friend and foe lighting up the screen in dazzling and colourful effects, despite the frustrating slowdown that comes during particularly hectic fights (thankfully, this is the only time it really occurs).

Environments suffer from similar issues with repetition – there are a variety of settings in the game from abandoned skyscrapers to shopping malls that make a brilliant first impression, but after a while of running down the same corridors repeatedly become a bit tiring. Still, I was impressed with the scope that The Caligula Effect aims for and I did feel immersed in each location, particularly a winding library full of creepy lifeless dolls.

Separately from the dungeons which you’ll be spending the majority of your time in, it is worth noting that you’ll also have scenes on pre-rendered backgrounds where you can build your social links. These reminded me enormously of Final Fantasy VIII (in particular Balamb Garden) with their pastel colour palette and relaxed vibe, making them a gorgeous distraction from the main sections.

For a game based around idols and musicians, there is obviously a large focus on music and I’m pleased to report that the soundtrack is brilliant – full of memorable tracks that adapt between instrumental and vocal depending on what’s happening on screen (and there’s a nice mix of Falcom-esque screeching guitars alongside more chill piano themes). There’s nearly full Japanese voice acting here which ranges from brilliant (μ’s VA knocks it out of the park) to more average, but I still appreciated it all the same.

Soundtrack highlight – Sin

 

Gameplay & Content

As one of a number of high school/alternate reality JRPG’s on Vita alongside heavy-hitters like Persona and Tokyo Xanadu, The Caligula Effect had to do something to differentiate itself from the crowd and thankfully it does thanks to its unique battle system and memorable dungeons. At the same time, some balancing issues and a repetitive design template let things down – but there’s still a smart and enjoyable game here.

You’ll control a self-insert main character (mine was named Kresnik, of course) who teams up with the other members of the Go-Home Club to escape Mobius. You’ll spend the majority of your time in dungeons where movement is done from a third-person perspective – there’s free camera control alongside genre-standard things like collectables (in the form of ‘stigmas’ and world wonders) and doors which require keys or beating a certain enemy to pass through.

Each dungeon is a labyrinth and you’ll explore the map in traditional gridder style to discover the route to the exit – it is nice that they’re all themed like in Akiba’s Beat rather than simply being dark tunnels. Enemies appear so can be avoided (which is fairly easy so long as you avoid their line of sight) or you can taunt them to run at you which triggers a battle which spawns in the location you’re standing, a lot like Tales of Zestiria – and just like that game it causes a load of camera troubles as the viewpoint struggles to keep up with all the walls penning in the combat. It also means that extra enemies can walk in during the fight so you have to be tactical about choosing where to engage foes.

Combat itself is Aquria through and through – incredibly complex and full of good ideas, but not quite executed well enough. At the start both your team and any enemies each select a chain of up to three attacks and then they’re all executed at once, leading to a manic scene of each character trying to attack – some moves will cancel out others and everything is demonstrated on a timeline at the top of the screen which you can adjust to help pull off the perfect set of moves.

To assist with this, something called the ‘catharsis effect’ is available – this shows a possible battle outcome with a percentage of how likely it is to occur. Given that you can smack foes into the air, perform aerial juggles and guard breaks, re-position yourself in the arena and attack enemies while they’re on the ground this is essential for pulling off the right strategy – although of course this is only a prediction and external factors mean things may not go to plan.

It’s all very tactical and incredibly unique – a little bit like the battle systems of Breath of Fire or Wild ARMs but with a lot more input – yet the battle system is one of the game’s largest flaws too. It makes for some thrilling boss fights as these tend to have more health and are capable of counter-attacks plus have their own powerful moves you’ll need to avoid, but standard enemies can be beaten by just using the same strategy over and over. This isn’t massively dissimilar to other JRPG’s but feels worse here because the catharsis effect really slows the combat down.

Outside of dungeon crawling and battles, you can pick a few locations from a map of Mobius and each – along with every dungeon – is filled with NPC’s (around 500 in total) that you can interact and bond with. This is similar to the systems available in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment – musical notes appear when you chat to them and you fill a meter representing your friendship. Eventually they’ll task you with a quest to help bond even further, usually involving introducing them to another NPC you’ve met.

It’s a very smart idea but sounds far better on paper than it is in reality – the conversations you have are incredibly inane and none of the people you’ll meet are at all memorable. It’s all a little overwhelming too and not something I invested much time in – I wanted to spend time doing it, but I’d rather just crack on with the main quest.

Thankfully, the social links you form with the main cast are much more enjoyable. As in Lost Dimension they’re merely activated by talking to them in the downtime between dungeons and although there’s some minor dialogue choices, nothing changes in the way they pan out. Still, there are some incredibly touching moments in there and it’s a simple way to help really bond you with these characters that’s executed extremely well – I wanted to spend more time getting to know the traumas of each of the cast.

There are various other systems at play – you can customise each character by spending skill points on new abilities for them and each can be equipped with ‘stigmas’ which basically function as equipment which can raise or lower certain stats. There’s also an in-game messaging app called WIRE that you can use to communicate with other characters, although the responses you can choose from are mostly nonsensical leading to strange conversations.

The Caligula Effect‘s other major flaw is in its pacing – it’s exactly the right length at around 25 hours for the main story plus plenty of optional content beyond this, but it’s painfully slow to get going. The first dungeon is the school and you’re thrown in head-first to figure its systems out, which doesn’t make a good first impression. I’d say it took about 5 hours to get used to the game and about 10 hours until I started to really love it, which is an entry barrier that might be a bit much for some.

Still, Aquria, Atlus USA and FuRyu have crafted an overlooked gem that has its fair share of issues, but still manages to be a supremely entertaining game – very similar to the publisher’s previous work on Lost Dimension, it’s a rewarding title if you’re willing to put the time in to learn its systems.

 

Conclusion

The Caligula Effect is a flawed game – the combat system is ambitious but clunky, the dungeons are gorgeous but repetitive and the conversation systems are a clever idea that’s executed questionably. Underneath all of these issues though is one of the Vita’s most unique and overlooked games telling the touching tale of a group of misfits trying to escape a virtual world back to get back to reality. I can’t for a second claim that it’s for everyone, but I really enjoyed my time in Mobius and would urge anyone interested to at least try it out if you at all enjoy handheld JRPG’s – if the game clicks for you, you’ll be treated to one of the most memorable titles of 2017.

8.5/10