Post by Bytor on Oct 21, 2009 21:47:36 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.5/10
First of all the pluses...the facial expressions in the cut scenes are awesome, the character development and representations are also top notch but this is obviously a game not necessarily relying on it's graphics. The figures in battles while very well rendered are still a bit chunky in appearance although I do love how the images change as the equipment changes, that alone deserves kudos. It is very nice when a game not only recognizes changes in the players apparel and weapons but also represents them in the visuals.
-Sound- 8.5/10
The voice acting is adequate but the battle scenes musical overtures get boring pretty quickly, a case of simply not enough variety.
-Gameplay- 8.9/10
A truly odd combination of RPG/tactical RPG and adventure. The idea is simple, use given tools to fight gladiatorial type battles and raise your skills and develop new attacks and defenses, what makes it fun is the shear variety of weapons/armors/magics and the fact that different allies can attack/defend and preform in different ways, and you can recruit allies to your school and dismiss as desired, and there are many, many different types of warriors/creatures to recruit, each of which has their own strengths/weaknesses. Certainly not a full all out action game but it will keep you busy for many hours (easily over 90 hrs to finish everything). And the great thing is you don't have to finish everything to finish the game, instead each city/village has certain requirements to enter each tournament where there will be certain strictures to follow in order to compete in the fights, it really does make it loads of fun.
-Story- N/A
Incidental at best....girl warrior born...gotta save the realm...
-Overall- 8.8/10
A classic example of the parts being less than the whole. The game is seriously hours and hours of fun, my only complaint is the end...and I'm not going to spoil it by telling you what happens, however, a word of caution, during your travels you will recruit many allies, some stronger, some weaker, do not, and I repeat, do not ignore your main characters development or you will regret it.