Mahoutsukai ni Naru Houhou (1997)

Developer: TGL
Publisher: TGL, ENTERGRAM
Platforms: PlayStation 3, PC (Microsoft Windows), Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More games like this

How it feels

It feels like a calm, methodical apprenticeship where you quietly gather ingredients and study spellcraft at your own pace across a small island world.

fantasyslow-pacedstudiousexploratorymodestsimulation-likelow-key

About

Mahoutsukai ni Naru Houhou is a Simulation/Action Role-playing game taking place on an island. Players take the role of a wizard's apprentice who's aspiring to become a mage and players are given 3 girls to choose from (Lime, Berry or Nut). To become a mage, players must study how they can make scrolls and collect the ingredients necessary to make them. The game features a first person perspective while players are at home and switches to a top-down 2D view when they go outside (The Saturn and Playstation releases render areas in 3D). There are 102 days in a year in this game and 5 seasons during which different materials can be found on the island. The game has 70 kinds of scrolls and around 150 kinds of materials to collect.

Screenshots

More games like this

More by TGL

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.