It's a CRPG, for portable platforms like PocketPC?. So it's got a lot more in common with SNES-style sprite-based RPGs than the 3D extravaganzas that are the standard on modern machines. Nonetheless, a 200x320 pixel display and a 7 megabyte install are plenty big enough for a fun and diverting game in the classic early FinalFantasy style, but with MonkeyIsland humour.
One memorable line is when a character with a wood-chopping hatchet who you can talk to proclaims, "I'm a lumberjack, and that's okay! ...It's much better than being a fisherman... " If you proceed to wander around his hut looking for hidden items, looking in his wardrobe will make the main character say to the player, "You're incredibly brave to look in a lumberjack's wardrobe..." Duncan the main character is suspected to be the next Legendary Hero... but they do turn up every twenty years, so the kingdom has got used to dealing with them: the Legendary Hero Amulet he gets is number 27 in a series of 200.
It has the usual CRPG staples of towns, inns, weapon and armour shops, wandering monsters, quests, magic items and so on. Some of these have unusual twists - eg most weapons and armour are only good for between 10 and 30 hits, and so having spares with you is more useful than normal. It supports play with any mix between fully-stylus-no-keypad and fully-keypad-no-stylus; although clicking to move around is standard in MonkeyIsland-style adventure games, the only other CRPG where AlexChurchill has encountered it is BraveSoul?.
It has a good collection of secrets and side quests. Notably, it has more than one "good" ending.
There is a sequel, "Arvale 2: Ocean of Time". That has more of the same, but with a couple of UI improvements, and a story involving time travel. It also has a collectable set of "Runes", which are very secret items of which there are about 14 scattered around the game. Most towns have a "Rune Dealer" who will exchange sets of five specific runes for highly powerful items. The trick, of course, is getting the five that correspond to the item you want.
Would I be right in surmising, from the webpage above, that the games a) cost money and b) are only playable on portables? --CH
Like most commercial PocketPC? software there are ShareWare-style trials available, which you can play until your character hits level 11 or so. But yes, I suspect they're not playable on desktops without some sort of emulator. --AC
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Arvale