Culdcept: The Game, The Manga, The Fun

When video games and manga meet, you’re in for action-packed fun that packs a punch! Culdcept has hit the states in both digital and print form, although the former arrived far earlier and much more quietly. The Culdcept manga has hit bookstores across the country and might just give Yu-Gi-Oh a run for it’s money with fast-paced action featuring a female lead who isn’t prone to depending on a second-self to do her fighting for her.

The story behind this game-turned-manga is an interesting one if not somewhat similar to another card-game-based manga we know of—except this one takes place in another univese, in another time…. The goddess Culdra created a universe and all of the life within it using the word she placed in The Book of Creation, also known as The Culdcept. During a great war between the gods of the universe she had created, the Culdcept was destroyed and its pieces were scattered and lost to time. Now you know that a book like this couldn’t be completely destroyed, right? On the mysterious continent of Bablashca, cards were found in a canyon that possessed enormous power and magical creatures. These cards were actually the pieces of the Culdcept and it wasn’t long before card-hunters or Cepters, started trying to collect the cards to gain control and power over the lands and possibly the universe itself.

Enter Najaran, the hero of the Culdcept manga, a girl with a natural talent for wielding the Culdcept cards. Her greatest love is gourmet dining, but her passion lies with the Culdcept cards and the creatures contained within them. Over the course of the manga she tries to prove that the cards, creatures and powers they possess deserve to be treated with the same respect as the humans who wield them. That doesn’t sit too well with everyone, but it doesn’t bother Najaran or Goligan the talking magic staff that her master sent to keep an eye on her. As Najaran journeys across the land she meets other Cepters vying for the power of the cards and finds herself in some very perilous situations where even innocent victims are hurt by her powers and those of her opponents. She’s a good person at heart and tries her best to protect those around her, but when she loses her temper, it’s best to keep a safe distance. The manga is far more light than the very dark Yu-Gi-Oh as of the first Graphic Novel, but only time will tell if Najaran will be able to keep her dedication to the cards or be possessed by their power.

Culdcept is a strange mix between a board game and a fantasy collectible card game. Released on both the Dreamcast and PS2, Culdcept was created by Omiya Soft and came out in the US in 2003. This isn’t anything like you would imagine. The story is very much the same as the manga, with the goddess Culdra creating the universe and the Culdcept. In this version of the story, you are trying to defeat an enemy named Gemenigh, who is determined to control not just the Culdcept cards, but the entire universe as well, through their power. You can choose from a slew of different character representations and then it’s off to play the game! There are a couple of different ways to play Culdcept, including a story mode with Goligan making an appearance and leading you on your journey, a versus mode and a replay mode for playing saved games at a later time.

The main story is fairly linear in that you can’t go beyond areas where you haven’t defeated enemy Cepters. There are branching paths at times, which allow you to choose a different battle, but expect to be fighting some very hard enemies and losing…badly. But that’s ok. Losing is actually a good thing in the long run because each time you lose a match, you get more Culdcept cards. There are over 480 cards to collect of varying rarity and power. Creature, item and spell cards make up your book or deck and deck creation is the major premise of the game, but it isn’t that easy. Oh if only it was…but then that wouldn’t be much of a challenge now would it? Each match is played on a board made up of colored spaces that represent the elements of fire, water, wind, earth, multi-attributes or neutral attributes, you’ll find that the creatures have attributes, too. There’s a lot to Culdcept, including tactics elements, which make this an all-around great game that you’ll spend hours and hours on without getting bored.

Now that the Culdcept manga is out, you’ll definitely want to take a look, but why not try to find this awesome game, too! If you’re a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, you’ll probably find the game much more challenging and a lot more fun with the board game aspects. It may even remind you of the battles with Duke in the TV series or even Bakura and Mokuba’s battles from the manga. So go on! Try out the manga and the game! Once I got the manga, I had to have the game and I haven’t been able to stop since I got them both.

Questions? Comments? Stupid Remarks? Email: Cyndy01@swbell.net

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