Ragnarok DS

 DS
Ragnarok DS Image
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

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  • Summary: Players step into the roll of young Ales as he steps into the world in search of adventure with the goal of eventually starting his own Guild. It is not long before this young rookie adventurer is propelled down a path toward danger, excitement, and a heroine in distress. Throughout hisPlayers step into the roll of young Ales as he steps into the world in search of adventure with the goal of eventually starting his own Guild. It is not long before this young rookie adventurer is propelled down a path toward danger, excitement, and a heroine in distress. Throughout his travels Ales encounters individuals who help in his quest for fortune and fame, as these friends will become invaluable new allies as they join his party. [XSEED Games]… Expand
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 19
  3. Negative: 6 out of 19
  1. GameFocus
    74
    If classic RPG gameplay appeals to you, Ragnarok DS has you covered. Though there is some repetition and frustrating boss battles, the mix of a retro feel and the smart, snappy writing make Ragnarok DS something special.
  2. IGN
    70
    Ragnarok DS feels long for the sake of being long. With so few areas to visit, the game artificially lengthens itself by forcing you to visit each area far more times than is actually fun.
  3. Gamer Limit
    65
    This game is great for fans of the online title who are looking for a more focused story adventure set in a familiar world. Everyone else can easily find a more interesting alternative.
  4. Worth Playing
    50
    Ultimately, if the job system had been integrated along with a memorable story and exciting battle mechanics, then Ragnarok DS could have been a very compelling game. That isn't the case, though, and instead we're left with a clearly sub-par RPG that manages to do little more than waste time and take up shelf space that should be reserved for better games.
  5. Cheat Code Central
    50
    The single-player campaign is a long, text-filled, boring grind, and the multiplayer is even worse.
  6. Nintendo Gamer
    48
    Only the basic building blocks of an average RPG are to be found here - and nothing else. Move along. [Apr 2010, p.65]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Gaming Age
    33
    If you've got the option to just check out the MMO, then I'd suggest that, because the portable version of the game certainly isn't worth your time.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. DanG
    Feb 16, 2010
    10
    Amazing game, although the WiFi play is a little iffy the overall single player experience is very rewarding.
  2. XV_
    May 8, 2021
    6
    The story has a pretty basic premise, you are this newbie adventurer craving for adventure, making a guild, and take the glory, then in yourThe story has a pretty basic premise, you are this newbie adventurer craving for adventure, making a guild, and take the glory, then in your journey you found this mysterious amnesiac girl which you’ll unravel her past while searching for the glory of being an adventurer, it’s mostly generic but in some places it sort of points out to something interesting but it is told in the most boring ways.

    What makes these story bits more bothersome is that scenes are unskippable, if you die in a boss battle (which almost always are accompanied by a 2 minute or so cutscene) you have to watch it again, but in a masochistic turn of events you even have to get to the boss room, these are always in the 3rd level of a dungeon, so better not dying next time or you’ll have to make a 5-8 minute trip to the boss again.

    Given that in RO you could customize your character to a certain degree (gender, hairstyle, and in most servers color clothes) it was a major letdown that in RDS you couldn’t, at least for its single-player campaign.

    In terms of playability, Ragnarok DS plays in part like a point-and-click adventure. To move your character you click on any place and he will move accordingly, click an enemy and he will attack automatically, the same goes for the use of items, simply equip one of them on the shortcuts bar and when you need a potion you just need to click the item and then your character, it's pretty straight forward and it has some of RO DNA on it. Skills on the other hand were more a mixed bag, it has some interesting things like drawing a circle around the enemy or drawing a diagonal slash to activate a skill, on paper it sounds like a fun mechanic, however, more often than not my actions didn’t register. Bad registered skills and enemies won’t be the only thing you’ll be fighting in this game, as the AI has some major issues especially in the later parts of the story.

    Ragnarok DS offers you, seven basic classes that can transform into an advanced class, the class selection its OK, ranging from melee to ranged classes and one that specializes in healing. When you finish the game you gain access to two unique classes to this game: Dark Knight and Shaman, one specializes in DPS and the other is a support class. The game also features a reborn system similar to RO, on which after you hit a certain level you can reborn from the start but with better stats.

    The game has some pretty interesting navigation, to say the least, for example, towns aren't navigable, they’re just reduced to a selection menu with the places to go. For a fantasy RPG game the number of towns it’s quite low, and the same could be said for overworld maps, they have annoying labyrinthic navigation and back-tracking, there are not nearly enough areas to be and it feels too repetitive. It doesn’t have a fast travel system in any sort of way, late in the game fast travel it’s possible but only between two cities. You have access to teleporting items that make you return to a visited town in one of the two continents you can go in this game, however, they’re way too expensive for the majority of the game and probably wouldn’t use them because of that reason, so in the long run, you’ll be going to the same places over and over, making the same trails over and over.

    Quests normally aren’t interesting in regards to their story and you can only do one at a time, if you want to cancel the tavern quests (I couldn’t find if you could cancel NPC quests) you have to go to the specific tavern you got it and cancel it, if by any chance you want to try to do it again you have to watch its cutscene once again, even if you have completed it before, you can’t skip it.

    Ragnarok DS has a multiplayer mode called the Mirage Tower, this tower consists of sets of five randomly generated floors that end with a boss battle, these floors have randomly generated rules, but since the servers are shut down playing multiplayer was simply out of the question. Thankfully, it’s possible to play this Mirage Tower in single player, and for the most part, it’s kind of doable if you have enough money to buy healing items that is.

    Playing through Ragnarok DS was hugely lifted by the love if have for the original game, but getting my sentiments aside, this is a mostly mediocre game which is impossible to recommend to anyone that hasn’t played its online counterpart. It sure has some fun elements and maybe you can play it to kill time but you’re probably better by ignoring it, fan or not. Maybe when it first launched, its multiplayer aspect gave it more life and probably offered a better end-game experience, but since it's impossible to measure in the present day, we only have this low-effort game that was made to take off the money of RO players hands. If you’re itching to play it still, I think it's mostly playable and you won’t be having a bad time either, but it definitely will be a meaningless time.    … Expand
  4. Ripred
    Jan 21, 2013
    6
    After playing Ragnarok Online for quite a few years, I was excited to play one of my favorite games wherever I went. However, right after theAfter playing Ragnarok Online for quite a few years, I was excited to play one of my favorite games wherever I went. However, right after the opening scene I realized this was going to be far from the Ragnarok I knew and loved. Ragnarok DS is much much more story driven than the MMORPG and rightfully so. It's a little hard to play a massively MULTIPLAYER game by yourself so the added story gives you something nice to go with.
    However, the story provided is very much a carbon-copy of, well, pretty much every single other RPG game out there. The combat is fun, but gets repetitive after a while but is made up with fairly nice skill progression and customization.

    The biggest downside to this game is the repetitive environments and backtracking. You'll find yourself going through the same cave over and over again on different quests and it gets pretty old pretty fast.
    The music can also get dry and overused because of this, the most annoying songs also used in the most frequented places. However, there are a few songs that really make the game pop.

    The game isn't short, although that's probably due to backtracking through miles of the same dungeons.

    Overall, Ragnarok DS is an okay game and, while repetitive, gives you quite a bit to do. The character progression is nice and the story is cute. If you're a fan of Ragnarok Online, I suggest at least trying this game out.    … Expand
  5. Yojimbo2015
    Jun 4, 2023
    4
    Clumsy and poorly presented RPG with tedious combat that's mediocre - at best - in every department.

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best DS Game of 2010
36
#36 Most Discussed DS Game of 2010
40
#40 Most Shared DS Game of 2010