I just finished a good RPG!

[Meshugger]

It's for the Gamecube, if anyone wonders. Played it on a 28" widescreen TV with a surroundsound speakersset.

 

The Good:

 

- It's long and epic, it took me 60 hours to finish.

 

- The story is great, the great plot twist was of a more surprise than in the original KotOR. (Don't be afraid if things start out simplistic, it's way more complicated than one might think)

 

- The battle system is very diffirent, there are no manapoints, weapons or anything. Everything is done with cards that have the essence of, i.e. a sword("atk 144, def 45"), shield or spell. Think of it as a game of "magic the gathering" with diffirent number- and typecombos.

 

- The music is simply excellent, going from the fully orchested intro to speed metal, to rave, to pshychadelic Pink Floyd, to waltz. Come to think of it, i haven't played a western RPG yet with this talent, Sakuraba demolishes the music in BG 1 & 2, KotOR 1 & 2 and Jade Empire with this game. The only one that can best this guy is the almight Uematsu(Composer of Final Fantasy-games).

 

- You don't play as the lead character, rather as his guardian spirit, who leads Kalas and gives him advice through his journey.

 

- Not fully 3D, but this has given the level-designers the chance to do some really beatiful levels, some are as good as looking at a painting.

 

- It has Mizuti, one of the strangest(In a good way) characters i ever met in a game.

 

- No random enemy-encounters.

 

- The battles can be difficult...

 

The Bad:

 

...The end-boss battle is a pain in the ass, even at level 75 i barely defeated him.

 

- It's not much of a roleplaying game compared to KotOR, think of it as an interactive story with rpg-elements. To put it simply, it's an JRPG in it's truest glory.

 

- It has a mandatory maze-level, ugh.

 

- Some monsters are plain ugly aesthetically speaking.

 

- No facial close-ups and FMV's, except the intro.

 

The Ugly:

 

- Inconsistent voice-acting: Mizuti is excellent, Gibari and Savyna good, Kalas is avarage, Xelha and Lyude + some other NPC are simply atrocious. Of some reason, Namco seemed to acknowledged this before the release and given the player the option to turn off the voiceovers (Not recommended though, atleast not until you met Mizuti).

 

If the included some more FMV(or adding facial closeups), fixed some of the voiceactors, this game would've been a 9.5/10 for me. However, with this issues in the final package, i still give it an 8.5/10.

 

Homepage

The Trailer

[Archmonarch]

I'd been meaning to try it. Thanks for reminding me.

[Arkan]

Have it on my Gamefly Q

[Darth Rabbit]

I'd been meaning to try it. Thanks for reminding me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Try it, it's definately worth the 49 euros-pricetag.