Post by Bytor on Jun 28, 2011 11:15:31 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.4/10
I hope you like sprites and anime presentations. Otherwise you may not be able to get past the visuals enough to even give the game a chance. And I freely admit, while I am certainly not a 'graphics snob" the graphics in this particular game took me a bit to get adjusted to. it's not that they are done bad, and fans of the previous incarnations from Gust will certainly be used to them (and probably adore them, lol) but they are sooo different from the majority of games out there that at first you may be unsure if you are playing a game from this decade or perhaps watching a cartoon on a channel in the 200's at 3 AM. Yes, they're that different visually. Now, having said that once I did adjust to the visuals I found them to be very whimsical and charming. The character designs are done well but the true strength is the enemies themselves. They are all so very original and interesting looking I found myself enjoying the battles simply for the enemy animations. The backgrounds are all adequate and animations are over the top and nicely done as well.
-Sound- 8.0/10
It's a quirky little soundtrack that for whatever odd reason gets stuck in your head an hour after turning the game off you will find yourself still humming the tunes. It's not that it's really that great that it sticks with you, nor is it so horrible that it sticks with you in that annoying way bad songs do. It's simply that quirky and catchy. Unfortunately it's also very, very repetitious and after awhile you will find yourself either ignoring it or turning it off. Voice overs aren't that often of an occurrence which is unfortunate as they are a true gem and fit the personalities and attitudes of the various characters wonderfully.
-Gameplay- 8.4/10
The game, in theory, is very nicely designed. In battle the game becomes a turn based RPG with a few slight twists. Fans of the genre will certainly feel right at home and be comfortable with the setup and the logistics of battle. There is a typical over drive added which can incur when the enemies weaknesses are exploited to the point that a gauge is filled, which then allows attacks to become much stronger. And of course there are the typical attack, defend, item magic choices available for use. What is added to the system is the tag-team effect. If your reserve allies are ready then they may be switched for the active character. now, this can save a weakened ally but more importantly you can switch directly after an attack and basically attack twice in one turn, or even under certain controlled situations have all of your reserves come in and attack one after another with the final attack being a devastating one. Unfortunately this system is very exploitable at times, allowing for battles to become simply way, way too easy and then at other times it can be a tad frustrating to spend your efforts setting up the attack and then having an ally incapacitated or weakened to the point that you are forced to heal them right away and waste the opportunity for the chain attacks. My other complaint is that without using these special attacks the boss battles can become really tough (on the other hand get it set up and accomplished and the battles are often over in a couple of minutes tops, unfortunately I feel there is not enough balance in the system. Now, outside of battle the game is a campus sim style reminiscent of the Persona series. Here, however developing relationships isn't important and more importantly, from a negative aspect, time is no factor whatsoever. You will go to class, get an assignment and then basically have as much time to complete (or fail, which is almost impossible to do) the tasks as needed. What this does is lag the game down tremendously as you will quickly develop absolutely no sense of urgency, nor care if you don't accomplish the mission and die as there is no penalty, instead you just have to try again, now, you can fail but I swear I think you'd have to do it on purpose. The strong point of the whole game is at times it weakest as well. Alchemy is the word of the day, lol. it's the entire goal to the game. Find things to combine with other things to make yet another thing, and this is unreal fun...until you master it, then it simply becomes a chore to be forced to go gather yet more of ingredient A in order to combine with ingredient B in order to make ingredient C which can then be combined with ingredient A in order to make ingredient D which can then be combined with ingredients A, B, C and D in order to make E...hopefully you get the picture about how repetitious and time consuming this can get. Great fun, in theory, but in reality it simply gets a tad tedious. There are other aspects of the game, many places to visit on campus, many NPC's to interact with and many mini games that both add to the story as well as flesh out the game, unfortunately none are overwhelming successes.
-Story- 8.0/10
Young orphan boy is "discovered" by a teacher at a famous alchemy academy and enrolled where he meets and befriends various other students and attempts to complete his studies while fighting a rival student group as well as various monsters encountered while gathering items for completion of assignments, the whole time attempting to discover who he is and what has happened to his father and his past...sound familiar?
-Overall- 8.4/10
In theory this game is a 10. It's a wonderfully fun premise with a very interesting cast and a great item synthesis system that unfortunately is bogged down by a really poor ebb and flow in gameplay and a battle system that needs tweaking in the worst way possible. It's still a fun game and can, and will, keep you occupied for quite a few hours, unfortunately you will, I imagine, get to a point where it simply becomes deja vu all over again and again and again.