Lost Kingdoms

<default>{{PAGENAME}}</default> Names Genre Developer Publisher Producer Designer Composer Amount of Players Release Date Lost Kingdoms, known as "Rune" in Japan, is a card-based action RPG for the Nintendo GameCube. Developed by From Software and published overseas by Activision in 2002, it is considered to be the first role-playing game released for the GameCube.

On a quest to uncover the mystery behind the Black Fog that encroaches the continent of Argwyll, the player will play as Princess Katia as she fights monsters with her mythical Runestone and a deck of cards.

Plot

Gameplay

Lost Kingdoms is organized into various locations that take Katia across the world map, with each such stage generally being locked off after it has been completed and only available again after the final boss has been beaten. The two exceptions to this rule being the Apothecary and Fairy House, which can be revisited at any time once they have been unlocked.

Each stage takes place in a diorama-like environment that can be rotated around four fixed top-down angles that offer varying levels of zoom distance. In each stage, there can be switches to interact with, signs to read, or puzzles to solve to advance forward. Most levels also contain collectable red fairies that will offer advice or commentary, as well as blue fairies that can have a variety of beneficial effects or trigger an enemy encounter.

Battles in the game either occur randomly or in a scripted sequence, such as in the case of a boss battle. When a battle occurs, Katia is taken to an enclosed version of the area she is currently situated in, with normal battles offering a means of escape by sacrificing one card. Despite being touted as a card game, Lost Kingdoms does not take a turn-based battle approach similar to its contemporaries. Instead, battles occur in real time in an interactive environment, with cards that can be set up as traps, summon fighting allies, enact direct attacks, or temporarily transform into a monster itself. Cards also have an element attached to them, with a type matchup system in effect: There is a cost to using cards, however, in the form of magic stones. This resource can be replenished using the magic stones that enemies drop when attacked, or in the field by the effects of a blue fairy. When Katia runs out of magic stones, her HP will decrease proportionally to the amount of stones used, but it will not drop below 1 HP. Only 30 cards are allowed to be carried at one time and the order of the cards is randomized with every stage attempt, requiring the player to choose their cards wisely. If the player cannot find extra cards scattered around the stage, and does have a card-restoring monster in their deck, Katia will be defenseless once her cards run out. If Katia's HP drops to zero, it is considered a mission failure and you will be taken back to the World Map with the EXP and cards gained in the stage still preserved.

Environmental objects can also be destroyed during the battle, which can open up pathways once taken back to the normal stage.

mention status effects
world map
capture throw
2P mode

Development

Atsushi Taniguchi has a small interview on the site
big part: beta screenshots and gameplay
prototype disk also huge

Atsushi Taniguchi, the producer of Lost Kingdoms, has spoken about the game's development both in an interview by RPGamer and in a note on the official website. In the RPGamer interview, he notes that once the team "understood the specs of the GameCube and had decided the game's contents [,] there were no real problems." However, there was also difficulty in combining the card and action RPG genre into one game, as he states on the official website. In stating the game's goals, he mentioned two main ideas of "putting care into development" and "being remembered by many