I'm going to regret inundating myself with so many new SquareEnix games in such a short space of time, particularly when acquiring so many that I actually cannot understand. Anyway, thought I'd Share some opinions on The latest two big names to hit the GBA scene: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu. Very early impressions on both, but I was wondering if anyone else is playing these games as well or was interested in what I thought.
Anyway, Tactics. And no sir, I'm not liking it all that much at the mo. To be honest, I haven't had that much play time on either of these titles since I've been engrossed in Tactics Ogre for the GBA but FFTA isn't exactly my sort of dig. I loved the style of the original Tactics, which is why I like TO so much, despite its plotline which simply tries too hard at times and buries the player with excessively long and unintuitive jargon. FFTA however, is far more twee, with its kid-trapped-in-videogame plot that really doesn't impress me too much. The plot is sure to develop further though and I'm sure time will uncover more traditional roots.
In line with this, character designs are far more imaginative. Again, I prefer the human-monster class divide seen in TO and FFT but I must confess to enjoying seeing some of the various designs that are present in the FFTA world. It's far more distinctive, especially on the small screen in battle, than the simple clothing alterations to denote class changes in humans. However I fear that too much time may be spent with the protagonist wondering where he is and being amazed at a new species of talking lizard that he's met. Speaking of which, dialogue sequences are very long. early on the proportion of dialogue to gamplay is quite unbalanced, but it's still early doors.
Onto the game itself. From what I can see early on, the class system from FFT remains but with the addition of FFIX's equipment-ability system whereby classes learn new abilities by equipping weapons. I thoroughly enjoyed both systems and look forward to see how they work when the game is closer to the 20 hour mark as opposed to the 2-3 hours i've spent on it already. The map system borrows heavily from The Legend of Mana whereby towns and aread are placed by the player on an empty map. i'm still unsure of its meaning yet. In Mana it was done to present a freeform, player dependant twist to the world but here i don't see that happeneing so uch. They are very different games.
Getting used to battles is wierd for myself since i'm used to TO rules at the mo but in FFTA battles are set out more like games of sport with referees. It's a very interesting twist - laws banning the use of items or knives may be in effect. law-breakers will see themselves being awarded yellow or red cards which could in turn earn them a jail sentance until you afford their bail. It's a nice idea, but again, another aspect which may alienate those looking for a true sequel to FFT.
So, it's bright. It's simple. It's a 'kids' version of FFT but beneath it lies what is still an enjoyable tactical rpg experience. Still worth a play imo, even though the storyline may bring with it a cringe or two.
As for Brownie Brown's Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu, it seems they have mixed and matched in order to improve the Mana series by taking points from the last two games in the series. In appearance and core gameplay, the game appears to play out much like the linear Seiken Densetsu 3 (I still pity the foo' who never gets to play that sublime game) but borrows many elements (particularly in artistic design) from the Legend of Mana. Rather than many characters with their own plotlines, only two exist, a male and female a la LoM, whose paths appear to be intertwined (progress is difficult - I still can't read japanese). LoM characters such as the travelling salesman/conman Nicco crop up (I can only hope that, later on, more of LoM's wopnderful cast of NPC's make an appearance as well) and you can't help but feel that much of the art design is influenced by LoM.
But at its core, this really is more a sequel to SD3 and in that respect, combat doesn't shine up too well. Battle feels clumsy and NPCs show very little intuition on their own - in this respect the game is a little more like LoM than SD3 where your fellow NPCs are more of a distraction than genuine battle allies like in SD3. The much lauded ring menu is back though and user definable levelling-up of stats allow you to choose exactly how your character advances, so fans ought to be pleased in that respect, but to be honest it doesn't quite have the flavour that made SD3 such a masterpiece. I know these are just early impressions but it just doesn't seem to work as well as the SNES masterpiece. I'd prefer to see a full conversion of SD3 first but as a 'Seiken Densetsu Lite', Shinyaku seiken Densetsu fills a gap. If you've never played a Mana game, by all means this is still a good game, but I can't see it having much over its predecessors as a fan of the franchise.
Cheers for reading, pups.
Anyway, Tactics. And no sir, I'm not liking it all that much at the mo. To be honest, I haven't had that much play time on either of these titles since I've been engrossed in Tactics Ogre for the GBA but FFTA isn't exactly my sort of dig. I loved the style of the original Tactics, which is why I like TO so much, despite its plotline which simply tries too hard at times and buries the player with excessively long and unintuitive jargon. FFTA however, is far more twee, with its kid-trapped-in-videogame plot that really doesn't impress me too much. The plot is sure to develop further though and I'm sure time will uncover more traditional roots.
In line with this, character designs are far more imaginative. Again, I prefer the human-monster class divide seen in TO and FFT but I must confess to enjoying seeing some of the various designs that are present in the FFTA world. It's far more distinctive, especially on the small screen in battle, than the simple clothing alterations to denote class changes in humans. However I fear that too much time may be spent with the protagonist wondering where he is and being amazed at a new species of talking lizard that he's met. Speaking of which, dialogue sequences are very long. early on the proportion of dialogue to gamplay is quite unbalanced, but it's still early doors.
Onto the game itself. From what I can see early on, the class system from FFT remains but with the addition of FFIX's equipment-ability system whereby classes learn new abilities by equipping weapons. I thoroughly enjoyed both systems and look forward to see how they work when the game is closer to the 20 hour mark as opposed to the 2-3 hours i've spent on it already. The map system borrows heavily from The Legend of Mana whereby towns and aread are placed by the player on an empty map. i'm still unsure of its meaning yet. In Mana it was done to present a freeform, player dependant twist to the world but here i don't see that happeneing so uch. They are very different games.
Getting used to battles is wierd for myself since i'm used to TO rules at the mo but in FFTA battles are set out more like games of sport with referees. It's a very interesting twist - laws banning the use of items or knives may be in effect. law-breakers will see themselves being awarded yellow or red cards which could in turn earn them a jail sentance until you afford their bail. It's a nice idea, but again, another aspect which may alienate those looking for a true sequel to FFT.
So, it's bright. It's simple. It's a 'kids' version of FFT but beneath it lies what is still an enjoyable tactical rpg experience. Still worth a play imo, even though the storyline may bring with it a cringe or two.
As for Brownie Brown's Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu, it seems they have mixed and matched in order to improve the Mana series by taking points from the last two games in the series. In appearance and core gameplay, the game appears to play out much like the linear Seiken Densetsu 3 (I still pity the foo' who never gets to play that sublime game) but borrows many elements (particularly in artistic design) from the Legend of Mana. Rather than many characters with their own plotlines, only two exist, a male and female a la LoM, whose paths appear to be intertwined (progress is difficult - I still can't read japanese). LoM characters such as the travelling salesman/conman Nicco crop up (I can only hope that, later on, more of LoM's wopnderful cast of NPC's make an appearance as well) and you can't help but feel that much of the art design is influenced by LoM.
But at its core, this really is more a sequel to SD3 and in that respect, combat doesn't shine up too well. Battle feels clumsy and NPCs show very little intuition on their own - in this respect the game is a little more like LoM than SD3 where your fellow NPCs are more of a distraction than genuine battle allies like in SD3. The much lauded ring menu is back though and user definable levelling-up of stats allow you to choose exactly how your character advances, so fans ought to be pleased in that respect, but to be honest it doesn't quite have the flavour that made SD3 such a masterpiece. I know these are just early impressions but it just doesn't seem to work as well as the SNES masterpiece. I'd prefer to see a full conversion of SD3 first but as a 'Seiken Densetsu Lite', Shinyaku seiken Densetsu fills a gap. If you've never played a Mana game, by all means this is still a good game, but I can't see it having much over its predecessors as a fan of the franchise.
Cheers for reading, pups.
although i was a little dissapointed to see the story switch to typical Final fantasy settings, i quite liked the more modern settings at the begining.
I will post some further impressions once I get stuck into it.
ft:
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