Post by Bytor on Mar 15, 2011 14:01:22 GMT -5
-Visuals- 9.4/10
The colors are to say the absolute very least stunning and breath taking! The palettes used are vibrant and immense in their scope. The entire world simply comes alive and certainly is rendered in such a way as to make a "dream world" gorgeous and alive. The character designs are certainly anime influenced but at the same time are varied to a degree where they each look individual. I loved the way Chopin looks and Beat, Allegretto and company are each very well done as well. Each area is also rendered nicely and for the most part looks very, very well rendered. The monsters might be the one weak point and even they are relatively well done. Now, this style will not appeal to everyone. If you are looking more for MGS4 or Uncharted 2 realistic type graphics then you may not care for this game visually, but I do believe that once you look past (if that is your viewpoint) the weakness in the style then I imagine you will agree with me that this is simply a gorgeous game.
-Sound- 9.9/10
Wow...simply wow. I am by no means I rabid fan of classical music but this soundtrack is awesome! It will pull and tug at your emotions constantly and the game ebb and flow of the musical scores is so wonderfully knit into the story and gameplay. Few games meld story and music so well and none I know of use classical music to this degree and success. The scores written by Chopin are so surrealistic and beautiful and the original scores by Motoi Sakuraba are also incredible. Simply incredible!
-Gameplay- 9.6/10
The battle system is typically JRPG. You explore the world in the usual fashion and when enemies are come into contact you then enter a battle screen. Here's where things become a tad different. Each battle area will have shades of light and darkness, As you enter these distinct areas both your abilities and the enemies attributes become different, the enemies will even transform. So it becomes a very tactical battle in the sense that you will want to maneuver around and make your attacks based on position and the enemies position. All of this takes place in real time which makes it even tougher. What will happen is once a battle is entered you will have a set time to plan your attack (which as you increase in level decreases, eventually to zero seconds). Once that time is up you will then have a set time to move and attack, so it is vital that you plan fast and move and attack in a decisive manner. Each ally has different attacks depending on whether they are long range or close and whether you are standing in light or darkness (R1 switches the attacks). The attacks themselves are very simply accomplished, X is your normal attack and triangle is your special attack (which varies on the light or darkness location). What really makes these attacks devastating is in the usage of Echoes. These are combo attacks which are built up based on number of blows landed, but you cannot simply hoard them as any time the special attack is used it will deplete the echoes saved, so you have to plan ahead, this is by the way the ONLY way boss battles can be won! The square button is used to use items (but you have to scroll through the items, also in real time and the items must be loaded before battles, and each takes up so much room, so say you only have 5 slots and a heal takes 2 you can only load two to take into battle), which are still used in real time, which definitely throws a whole new aspect of planning in your battle. For instance you may need to use a heal but you still need to attack so you may find yourself hitting XXXXX, then square real fast in order to build your echoes while still healing. Circle is your block and this can and will mean the difference in life and death, especially in the boss battles as a hit might take off 4000 if not blocked but only 400 if, so it's vital you get the timing down, and it does take some practice, and even then sometimes it just doesn't block, oh yeah, also forgot to mention that whether you attack (or are attacked) from in front or behind and the distance attacks take place from, matters tremendously! This system does take some time to get used to but once I did I really enjoyed it, it made the battles tough, even normal ones, and yet fun as trying different attacks and allies together made each battle seem original. Side quests are numerous and fun also, exploring the various areas can lead to many, many discoveries (although the game itself is somewhat linear) and the view while doing all of this is unreal. Overall a truly innovative and exciting battle system and solid gameplay in every other aspect as well.
-Story- 9.5/10
The story basically takes place as Frederic Francois Chopin lies on his deathbed. He awakens in a wondrous world in which magic works. he believes this world to be a dream...or is Polka (all of the main characters and places have names related to mucic by the way, both funny and innovative I think) having a dream that Frederic is in, or are they both dreaming together? Whatever the world may be what makes the story so great is that this is a very cerebral game. The ideas and thoughts the game brings up will certainly make you not only question the reality of the game but also the morality of both the game and your own ideal. I started the journey thinking this was a typical JRPG in story and finished the story thinking what a wonderful and thought provoking journey I had been on.
PS The end is good...the very last part before the ending sucked to me, way too much grinding and I felt the great story took a back seat.
-Overall- 9.4/10
I loved this game. Having said that a truly great game should be like a truly great book. A great story, great characters and a great ending. I'm not going to spoil the ending and I will say not every great story has to have a totally happy feel good ending, but it still should have a lead in worthy of the ending. Here is were the game failed for me. I spent a good 98% of the game loving everything about it, then it felt to me as if the developers said, OK...we'd like the game to be a tad longer but we're out of things to say/do until we reach the climax...I know, let's have the player fight for a few hours simply to fight, that'll take up some time. Yeah for us, we're so smart! Seriously, the game could have done totally without the last section and I would have labeled it a truly incredible game, instead it's still a great game, but not one of the elite.