Playing through Baroque again on the iPad has reminded me of just how good this game is, and how completely unappreciated it was on the Wii. I don't think many people at all bought it, and that's a pity because, aside from the Chocobo games, this is easily my favourite roguelike.

Anyone else out the in NintendoLife Land ever buy into this game?

Yeah, I got this. Didn't know too much about the original version so it was new to me.

I found it really confusing and frustrating at first, before i got into it. The idea of having to die to prgress the story really threw me. The game wants you to get so far, down to a certain level in the dungeon to trigger some event, get an item, find a character etc, but then you have to die after that to get any further, to get back to talk to the characters outside the tower. Spent quite a few hours on it and but never finished it. It's a while since i played it, think i got to somewhere around -2000, i've since seen a guide and this seems to be quite a way from the end.
I much preferred Chocobo's dungeon, brilliant game. I found that a much more balanced and enjoyable game, i completed that game, and then did all of the extra dungeons after the end of the story and maxed the levels on all the job classes.

Yeah, I bought this for Wii because it seemed like an obscure RPG that wasn't officially released in my country. Only a handful of PAL countries got the game.
Have played it just a bit. Hope to get into it sometime.

I've been curious to play it, and have seen it on sale a bunch of times but the difficulty terrifies me. I've honestly never played through a single dungeon crawler in my life. I'm currently working my way through the first Pokemon MD and I find that game is even challenging. Maybe one day!

I had that game and I played for a long time.
All I can say: BAROQUE SUCKS, unless you are some kind of masochist or something.

Why?

I played the game. I rather liked the game. I even finished the game.
Can't entirely disagree with what Rod64 is saying.

Baroque is a difficult game. It challenges most (all?) of your gaming assumptions. You have to die to progress. You have to throw away your best weapons to get stronger. You have to run when it feels like you should fight, and vice versa. The story is a complete mystery early on, and instead of giving away backstory forces you to figure out what's happened (happening?) by making mistakes.

So why would you want to subject yourself to something like this, other than being a masochist? Because the story, while disturbing at times, is fully engrossing once you start piecing things together. Because the revelation of what's actually happening, and who characters that you interact with really are, is very rewarding. Because knowing that each time you enter the labyrinth, you're better equipped to succeed because of your previous experiences and discoveries. This is a game for people who like fighting to unravel mysteries, who don't mind having to grind a little bit to make that happen, and who enjoy gathering bits of information that can be pieced together to understand the narrative of the rich world being explored.

If you want an easier rogue-like to digest, try Chocobo's Dungeon and/or Shiren the Wanderer - both excellent games in their own right, and both more approachable than Baroque.

Shouldn't this be called the "Baroque Appreciation Thread", not the "Baroque Application Thread"?

Baroque is a software application so the headline is still correct, even if the iPad autocorrect messed up what I had originally intended on calling it.

Anyway, re previous comments - the fact that this game is almost the direct opposite of what a game is mean to be - the fact it's an Antigame in some ways - is why it is so interesting. It's not a traditionally entertaining game, but it is very intellectually stimulating, and that makes piecing it together worthwhile.

It's like the Kubrick of the games industry.

I picked up this game for $9 at Toys R Us a while back. I have yet to play it but it sounds very interesting.

Which doesn't make me any less unsure if I should play it, seeing as Kubrik made some of my favorite and least favorite movies in the industry. For every Dr. Strangelove or The Shining, there was a 2001 or a Clockwork Orange. I'm not exactly thrilled to find out which one this will turn out like, if you know what I mean.

It's more like the latter. It's for people that like their games, films, books etc to make them think. It's less for the people that like more straightforward stuff.