Fired this up yesterday and managed to get 4 hours in with it. Not really much of an RPG fan, but I've liked the look of this for a long time due to my long-term fascination with OverWorks' Skies of Arcadia, and beyond the Space Pirate premise, the similarities end there. It has far more in common with Dragon Quest VIII and Kingdom Hearts II (as you would expect with the former, due to it being the same team).
In anycase, I've really gotten into it. I'm liking the visuals, which whilst aren't a million miles from Dark Cloud or Dragon Quest's aesthetic delivery. The cut-scenes in particular look superb, makes a nice difference from the CG offerings we're used to in these types of games. The voice acting (which wouldn't surprise me if it was the same DQ cast) is actually bearable as well.
The battle-system is pretty straight-forward. Hack n' Slash. Wait for your meter to replenish. Rinse and Repeat OR successfully block an attack and then get stuck in. You can opt to control any of your party within a battle and you can set a team parameter, so that they behave accordingly. Often during battles, commands will flash up when your CPU allies want to perform an ability. It works well. Battles can often descent into disarray if not done correctly, but this system does allow you to sit back, wait for your moment, then dive in for the kill and not have your allies randomly and getting themselves killed UNLESS you want them too.
The Revelation System is something that's been seen in other RPG's, but I prefer this one, mainly because this one tells you what ones you need to fill in the blanks (bit of a dumb **** y'see), which of course, opens up new abilities. At the point I arrived at last night, I'd just unlocked Item Synthesis, which allows me to mix two of the same style weapons together to create a bigger and better hybrid. I mean, with names like Ridge Crusher, how can than NOT sound like an awesome weapon.
Those versed in these sorts of games can explain things better than I. I'm really, really liking this though, and dare I say, it could be the first "proper" RPG I actually finish other than Zelda!
In anycase, I've really gotten into it. I'm liking the visuals, which whilst aren't a million miles from Dark Cloud or Dragon Quest's aesthetic delivery. The cut-scenes in particular look superb, makes a nice difference from the CG offerings we're used to in these types of games. The voice acting (which wouldn't surprise me if it was the same DQ cast) is actually bearable as well.
The battle-system is pretty straight-forward. Hack n' Slash. Wait for your meter to replenish. Rinse and Repeat OR successfully block an attack and then get stuck in. You can opt to control any of your party within a battle and you can set a team parameter, so that they behave accordingly. Often during battles, commands will flash up when your CPU allies want to perform an ability. It works well. Battles can often descent into disarray if not done correctly, but this system does allow you to sit back, wait for your moment, then dive in for the kill and not have your allies randomly and getting themselves killed UNLESS you want them too.
The Revelation System is something that's been seen in other RPG's, but I prefer this one, mainly because this one tells you what ones you need to fill in the blanks (bit of a dumb **** y'see), which of course, opens up new abilities. At the point I arrived at last night, I'd just unlocked Item Synthesis, which allows me to mix two of the same style weapons together to create a bigger and better hybrid. I mean, with names like Ridge Crusher, how can than NOT sound like an awesome weapon.
Those versed in these sorts of games can explain things better than I. I'm really, really liking this though, and dare I say, it could be the first "proper" RPG I actually finish other than Zelda!
.
Comment