Post by Bytor on Aug 26, 2012 17:07:07 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.4/10
Well, I'm not really sure the game has aged that well visually so I am going to attempt to rate it based on what it is and not what it isn't. What it is is a slight mishmash of styles, some succeeding in looking pretty good and some failing. The various enemies are, for instance, designed very well, and some of them look really, really nice, especially for the 32 bit era (although the obvious blurring of pixels is evident up close). The various allies you recruit all look somewhat individualistic and are also designed pretty good for the most part. The various art designs for the characters varied a bit as well, although most did seem to have a slight "washed out" look about them. Where the designs failed was in the world map and the character traversing it, it was borderline horrible looking to say the least and looked like something from a game made 10 years earlier, yes, it's that simple looking. Still, overall, I'd have to say the game looks certainly as good as most games from the era and even better than many.
-Sound- 9.2/10
There is no voice acting so this gauge is strictly on the soundtrack and sound effects. And I do separate them because it's almost as if two sets of designers decided on each aspect of the game. The sound effects are redundant, often somewhat unnoticeable and at other times garishly obnoxious in both the sounds and the repetitions. The music on the other hand is memorable for an altogether different reason. Simply put it's highly considered to be one of the best in an RPG period, most especially one made as long ago and in the somewhat gaming infancy as it was. What makes it so memorable, other than the wonderful music, is the absolute incredible variety of styles represented in the soundtrack. Seriously, there is pretty much something for everyone in this soundtrack!
-Gameplay- 9.1/10
Battle is standard RPG fare with a few notable innovations. For one, you can have and control up to six people in your party during any given battle, What is somewhat unique is that having various characters can give you added combo/special attacks. This brings a bit of strategy into the battles and to be honest somewhat spices up what otherwise can be somewhat tedious (albeit easy) battles. Unfortunately I found the battles for the most part, to be relatively simple, very few of the boss battles even gave me too much issue, now thus admitted I am the level up/grinding king (getting lost a few times didn't hurt either) but still overall the battles were simply not that difficult. Leveling up is relatively straight forward as well although weapons must be leveled up by blacksmiths which did throw a bit of a twist, especially if you had not recruited the higher level smiths. And honestly that is what the game is all about, recruiting members to join in your alliance. There are 108 different characters to recruit, each has their different attribute, strengths and weaknesses (as well as story's, motives and desires which must sometimes be accomplished before they will join you) which will add to your experience and gameplay. And actually recruiting them can be vital as some battles play out as large scale rock-paper-scissors games where you will struggle a bit unless you have appropriate allies. Unfortunately other than the fact that the large battles play out easier with many allies (and your castle gets larger and easier to do all of your "one stop shopping" in your castle as opposed to traveling to various villages) there is really little reason to try and get all 108, as many of them are so weak and useless that spending the time and effort to recruit them is not worth the time and effort. Still, all in all I did enjoy attempting to recruit all of them, at least up until I got into the 80's, then I got a tad tired of backtracking.
-Story- 8.2/10
Here's where the game gets the most love, and to be honest I don't get it. The story is a tale of a military son who grows to realize that the ruler of his kingdom is in fact evil. And while politics and power are central themes I honestly did not feel the emotional attachment many have felt with this game. I cannot go into too much detail without some minor spoilers but suffice it to say that the game tended to be overly dramatic with characters that had only known each other a few days, play the game, one of the scenes I am speaking of happens very early in the game, perhaps you will agree, perhaps not. And to be honest if I can overlook these dramatic moments the story itself is not too bad, recruiting allies to help in your quest to overthrow the government is in and of itself a good story.
-Overall- 8.8/10
This is a fun game, a really, really fun game. And I imagine in 1996 it COULD/WOULD have been considered a classic....but to me it's not. And yes, I realize it's older and I may be being a bit harsh, but I don't think so, Lunar Silver Star came out around the same time and it is a much, much better game, so,,,fun game...yes...classic...not to me, but still definately worth the time.
