OK's Random Writings and Musings

[OblivionKnight]

Figured I should do this as well.  I have a bunch of stuff I want to do.  This will be reviews of a lot of stuff - games, movies, etc.  Feel like it will be easier to write about lots of stuff at once.  Anyway...

Current Writings
Xenosaga 3 http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,234.msg1422.html#msg1422
Dragon Quest 8 http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,234.msg1423.html#msg1423
Top 11 RPGs You Need to Play http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,234.msg80293.html#msg80293
Legend of Dragoon http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,234.msg81436.html#msg81436

[OblivionKnight]

Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra

I'd like to say my opinion of the Xenosaga series improved over time. Xenosaga I bored me, though it clearly had loads of potential. Still, the combat was long and boring, and boiled down to having characters fire off full-screen attacks ad infinitum. Also way too much mystery. Overall, I did like the game a bit, though. Xenosaga II had a far more interesting combat system that required thinking and planning, which was a welcome addition. It also did quite a bit with the story, enticing me towards the conclusion of the series. Xenosaga III's arrival greatly intrigued me - unfortunately, with finals and everything else rising up, plus shinier games like Tales of the Abyss, I didn't get a chance to play it. So, around January, I decided to do a replay of the whole series to refresh myself. So it was around March that I finally got a chance to play Xenosaga III.

So, how is it?

It's split into both good and bad. There's some really neat things about the game, and then there's...well, bad stuff. The overall effect on the series as a whole is questionable, but I'll get into all that later.

So, where to begin? Let's start with the music. I'm a huge music fan - music is one thing I prize so much in games that it invariably has a large effect on whether I like the game. Xenosaga III has very lacklustre music. In contrast to Xenosaga I which had a fantastic, if underused, soundtrack, and Xenosaga II which had an overall average soundtrack with better usage of it that its predecessor, Xenosaga III (henceforth known as XS3) has a pretty poor soundtrack. I first direct your attention to the battle theme, "Fallout". Truly, the song does remind me of a fallout - it makes me wish I had been incinerated in a nuclear blast rather than listen to it. It's not a horrid song, per se, but it takes forever to get to the somewhat decent part of the song, and considering that XS3 random battles last ten seconds on average? All you hear in practice is the completely uninspired intro.

I can barely remember any other music in the game. Literally - I remember liking some of it vaguely, but I can't even remember how any of it goes. This isn't good - when even I can't remember certain tracks or find them interesting, there's something wrong. It's not the music is necessarily bad, per se, it's just that it doesn't fit the game well. As mentioned, the battle theme is so slow, it's more fitting of, say, a Legaia game than a Xenosaga game. It's in stark contrast to the battle themes of the first two games in the series, which were faster and more upbeat, with more pulse-pounding notes and rhythms, that really accentuated the energy of the battle. XS3's battle theme falls flat on its face in that regard, and so does the rest of the soundtrack. It's not memorable because a lot of it just doesn't fit - you're visiting the same places you visited in the rest of the series, and the music just doesn't fit for these places. It makes everything stand out in a bad way. Even though Xenosaga I had an underutilized soundtrack, it fit far better than XS3's soundtrack, which seems designed merely to noise and not music.

The sound effects that accompany many of the attacks in the game are decent, at least - the massive beams of death sound like massive beams of death at least, so a point in that direction.

The voice-acting is typical fare of the series - pretty solid overall, with some weak points. In particular, the in-battle voice acting is horribly uninspired. There's little emotion in the character voices, and much of it is hard to understand, particularly with the echo that accompanies most of the voices. As well, every character has the same quotes for ether skills ("Ether Drive!"), and many of their special attacks have little oomph to them - many are just a grunt or "hiya!". Considering that the previous two games had unique quotes for each character using their ether abilities and most specials, this is pretty unforgivable. The plot scene voice acting is generally good, though in some instances it too suffers from a lack of emotion and general apathy, particularly involving certain characters (wilhelm, I'm looking at you!).

Special mention does need to be made of the game's ambient voice acting. What is this, you might ask? There are several dungeons where the intercom will continuously scream messages throughout the dungeon. I like this - it's a nice touch that really adds to the ambience of the dungeon traversal. However, it does get annoying after a while, particularly near the beginning or whenever you have to backtrack through a dungeon multiple times. They really needed to add some type of button you could hit in-dungeon to turn it off or change the message or something. Hearing an advertisement for random things in the middle of a rescue mission is a bit...odd and out of place.

Ok, so the music's not exactly the greatest thing to be found with the game. Let's go for something positive - graphics. The game does look pretty, as a Playstation 2 game should, and the cutscenes are as fluid and well-designed as the rest of the series, which is a plus. While there may be fewer of them than in the rest of the series, they're still plentiful enough that you won't miss them if you liked them. The characters also look great, whether in the cutscenes or in-battle or on the overworld maps. Plus, swimsuits make a return, and with them, the ability to change what your characters are wearing, which is, at the least entertaining.

Special attacks in battle are...a mixed bag. Many have horribly unispired names (Ice Bolt I! Ice Bolt II! Ice Bolt III!), and a good deal of them have horribly uninspired animations (seriously...what happened to chaos's Angel Wings of the past, where he grew...well, angel wings and nuked things? Now all he does is slap enemies with his palm), but some of the effects are pretty cool. In particular, the special attacks each character has are typically groovy, from Jin's Dragon Dance and its combo of sword blows to chaos's Imperial Judgment, a chilling ice attack. The boss attacks generally look awesome too, and pretty much all the attacks you'll see in the game look good, which is a bonus.

So, graphics good, music fairly lacklustre. Game sounds ok, right? Yeah, not bad so far. So, how does the gameplay, the thing they've changed the most between games, look?

Completely different, as advertised.

For one, stores and shops and equipment are back. This makes me happy - I mean, I love fighting enemies for hours on end, but when I can't earn money to spend it on pretty trinkets, it makes me sad. Now, enemies dropping G (yes...G. It's like the writers of the Xenosaga series decided that the game currency should be bad rap music) gives me something to spend all that accumulated wealth on! Yay! Every character has weapon slots, armour slots, and 3 accessory slots (ring, armband, necklace), and there's plenty of awesome pieces of equipment to find and break the game into pieces with, many of them storebought, so get your G on!

All these pretty pieces of equipment are helpful in making the battle system less boring. Make no mistake, I love the old-school turn-based combat system. It's tried, it's true, and you can do some fabulous things with it. XS3...simplifies this to the point that my cat could play it. Gone is the CTB system of games past. XS3 has a basic turn-based system, where every character gets a single action per round, based on their agility ratings. Lapping of turns doesn't occur, which is sad, but boosting still exists. Unfortunately, boosting is vaguely worthless - enemies rarely do it, and there's no reason to boost yourself. There are two reasons for this: first, the boost gauge is also used for character special attacks, which take a variable number of boost bars to use. The second is because the combat is pathetic. Pathetic. Rarely will enemies pose a threat to your characters, and if they do? 3/7 of the cast learns healing spells naturally (including full party healing), and the rest of the cast can learn them in some way or another. There's also the fact that many enemies, simply put, suck. Not until the end of the game can enemies stand a single round against your characters, and even then, it's too late. Remember what I said earlier about never reaching the 'good' part of the battle theme? This is because enemies die too fast. An easy game isn't necessarily a problem per se, but there's nothing to really challenge you in the game period - even the optional boss for your on-foot characters is...not that great. This is partly because some of the skills are vaguely insane, allowing you to do something around 5 times damage if properly set-up. There's also a plethora of auto-life skills (that everyone can learn) and other evil tricks that the game just cannot fight back against.

One nice addition to the system was changing traps from something that randomly was available once every dungeon to something you carried with you. Very nice, and made battles a bit easier. Unfortunately, like the boost system, these became worthless after a point, but still a nice touch.

What about the mech combat, something that's been considered a weak point in the series since its inception?

It's the same thing as the character combat, mentioned earlier. Some changes were made (no boost, instead replaced by individual gauges that rise to levels that allow you to perform special attacks over time), but it's fundamentally the same. E.S.'s still have equipment slots like characters, and there's some semblance of strategy in equipping, at least - do you choose a powerful weapon that takes of lots of EN (energy needed for attacking during combat), or weaker ones that take up less EN? Sadly, the stronger weapon generally wins out overall. Battles still end in seconds, and the E.S. battle theme is even worse than the character battle theme, since it really doesn't even have a good part to it. Then, there's the Charge ability - every E.S. can use this to heal their E.S. for minor amounts, which is fine early on, especially since Charging also puts the E.S. in a defensive stance. Then, part-way through the game, you can acquire an accessory that raises the healing amount from Charge to something close to 75% of the E.S.'s max HP. No enemy can overcome this.

And yet, some of the battles in E.S. mode are completely retarded. At least the optional E.S. boss is a decent challenge (as he should be - it's the only really decent challenge in the game), but some of the story bosses are irritating. One of the bosses at the end of the game continuously heals for 75000 HP or so - I had her down to half life, and then she healed herself back to full. This continued for about 40 minutes until she decided to stop healing herself every time she took damage. The next boss basically killed anyone in the party in a single hit unless they guarded. Thankfully, he at least would indicated when he was using his overkill move first, but still. The nature of both the E.S. and character combat boils down to unbalanced - while it's promising early, the game just can't fight your characters properly (character combat) or just plain has to be insanely annoying (E.S. combat) to try and extort 'challenge' from the fights.

Ok, gameplay, not so good. What about plot and characters, what the Xenosaga series has been hyped for from day one?

Well, this is where the game nearly shoots itself in the foot. After deciding that Shion didn't exist for the last two games, XS3 decides she needs to be the focus of the game. The characters...are so horribly hit-or-miss it's not funny. Of your party members, only Shion really gets any development and screen-time (a mistake!). The game focuses on her and her development into a real woman. Ziggy? His plot was in Pied Piper, and he basically doesn't do much of anything in XS3, beyond what he usually does. MOMO? An extra computer and analytical machine, though she has an adorable hat. chaos? Oh, I'll get to him later. Jin? Complete change from his Xenosaga II persona, into something horribly depressed, constantly caring about Shion and how she feels. KOS-MOS? I'll get to her later too. Jr.? Hey, he does something, just...not much. The main playable cast is designed to be Shion's lapdogs, mostly - they do so little except help to further Shion's continual stumbling and bumbling through life.

The villains fare better, which is good, as the Xenosaga series generally knows how to write villains. Dmitri Yuriev is one of the primary foes in the game, and is deliciously evil and creepy. He's stylish, he's well-dressed and the end of his arc is the climax of the game, before it continues onto the arc of utter failure. Virgil, the Blue Testament, returns too, and half of the first disc is nearly devoted to his backstory alone, which is cool. Again, stylish and smart, Virgil really proves that Xenosaga writers can write villains.

Well, kind of. The true villain of the game is someone I'm sure everyone was expecting for a long time. And...he's so bland. It doesn't help that his thunder was stolen many, many hours ago before he actually makes his appearance and does something at the very end of the game. This something isn't even good, had been attempted before by far more appropriate villains, and was horribly, horribly executed. It also doesn't help that the main villain is...really lacklustre. He doesn't really inspire much in anyone. Mostly because he's done nothing the entire series until the last hour of XS3.

Supporting villains include the Black and Red Testament. Black Testament doesn't get any real backstory in the game, having had that in Pied Piper (the cell phone game starring Ziggy that was only released in Japan). Red Testament...is pretty obvious, and is a very weak villain. Sure, he works alongside the main villain, but...he doesn't do anything, and is obsessed with one of the playable characters to the point of having no other motivation other than that character. His background is built-upon pretty well, at least, but I can't help but feel apathy for him.

Pretty much every other character in the series returns in some way. Juli Mizrahi is pretty consistent in her character, and provides a much-needed sigh of relief and humanity to a cast that sometimes reaches too far out there. Canaan and Miyuki return not only as extra characters, but also as temporary fighters for the early segments of the game. Canaan's personality changed quite a bit from Xenosaga II to XS3, turning into a depressed, angry realian, but even then, he's still more grounded and human than some of the other characters in the game. Allen Ridgeley returns, and this time, he returns with some backbone. Indeed, he'll join your party for a period of time too, which is great. He grows up and becomes a real man in the game, and has, without a doubt, more development than pretty much any of the main characters. That's part of the issue with the game - the non-playable and temporary characters and villains get so much more development and screentime than your main party of characters. While this is unique, it's also annoying, as random characters that have only existed in one game get more time than ones that have been in three games (see: Andrew Cherenkov). It's a bit depressing to see characters become nothing more than spare bodies (see: MOMO).

And then, near the end of the game, everyone starts dying. Remember Final Fantasy 4, where everyone started to die, but then come back? Everyone in XS3 starts dying or sacrificing themselves for no reason, many of them right after each other. Literally, there's a span of 3 majour villain deaths in 15 minutes, each 5 minutes apart. This is completely unnecessary and literally insane - why did they die? The game makes no mention of or attempt to justify these deaths in-character, which is awful.

But what about the story? What about this outstanding saga? How does it unfold?

Solid at the start all the way up until after Dmitri Yuriev's arc. It stays coherent, explains many things, and culminates in a solid climax and battle that could very well have been a decent ending to the game. But there's a chapter after this, and that's where it all goes to hell. XS3 has a lot of religious imagery scattered throughout it. That's fine - it's light and well-placed and paced.

And then comes the last 2 hours or so.

If you've ever wondered if something can blast a game to pieces and ruin a great build-up, play this game. It all starts once Shion opens her mouth and starts to speak. Then, apparently, Dan Brown started to write the rest of the game. XS3 pulls some horribly out-there plot twists and revelations that make no sense with regards to the characters and everything that has ever happened up until that point. It nulls and voids pretty much everything that the game ever built up to. Every speck of plot, all the characters from past games...everything they stood for dies right there when Shion starts to talk and the revelations of KOS-MOS, chaos, T-elos, Red Testament, the final villain, and Shion start to come to light. It was out of there and completely unexpected and poorly executed.

And then, to make that revelation stick, two robots start a boob war.

No, that last comment wasn't a joke. It actually happens.

It would almost seem like I hate the game, but quite the contrary - I like it a good deal. It does a lot of good things, and, up until the start of the final chapter, is very solid. But that last chapter...with the E.S battles from hell (the last chapter is where they get the worst), the unneeded deaths (which only occur in the last chapter), the horrid downward spike the story takes (last chapter) and the ungodly boring character battles that don't get better (worst in the last chapter), the last chapter alone nukes the game pretty bad. I still think the game's a decent enough ending to the series, but definitely not what it should have been or could have been. Partly due to time constraints and budget problems? Yes, I can attest to that. But it feels like they took the cheap way out with the end of the game, which is very sad, as the game and series had so much potential.

If you've played the first two games, you want to play XS3 to see how it ends. Otherwise, play the first two, then play this one. The end of a series is always a good thing - in the case of Xenosaga, it laid to rest a promising birth in the dirge of religious ideology, letting it find peace after all.

[OblivionKnight]

Dragon Quest Eight: Journey of the Cursed King

My first experience with a Dragon Quest game was via emulation in 2000 (don't sue me! please!). This little gem was called Dragon Warrior 2. What possessed me to start at such a random place in the series I chalk up to having eaten a crayon for a science experiment (don't ask). Still, the game did appeal a bit to me, so I played more of the series. I played Dragon Warrior 1 soon after I finished Dragon Warrior 2, and found it horribly boring and pointless. Really, why should I save the princess if she's not going to kiss me or make me dinner? I then decided to skip Dragon Warrior 3 and go right to Dragon Warrior 4.

This was a good decision on my part. The game was masterfully designed despite being so old. The chapter system was well-done, building all the individual characters up before introducing the Hero of the group. The game was far more polished than any of the rest of the series to date, which made it far more playable. There were loads of secrets, and plenty of extra things to do. It was really an enjoyable experience, and definitely a high point in the series.

After Dragon Warrior 4, I emulated Dragon Warrior 3, then Dragon Warrior 5, then Dragon Warrior 6. Number 3 was ok, number 5 was about as good as number 4, and number 6 was pretty bad. Near the end of 2001, Dragon Warrior 7 reached the United States. I played it. I put over 100 hours into the game, and it left me a bit disappointed (and wishing I had about 40 of those hours back). The game was very, very long, boring at most points, and pretty devoid of character. Just...a typical Dragon Warrior game. At about this time, I learned what a game suffering from "Dragon Quest Syndrome" meant: slow, built upon so-called "fetch-quests", lacking in polish, etc. It was more of a "grind" game. Granted, I do like grind games to an extent, but many of these Dragon Warrior games lacked something.

At the end of 2005, in November, Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King (DQ8) reached North America. There was quite a bit of fanfare about this release: after all, it was published by Square Enix, and was the first Dragon Warrior/Quest game released in the United States in 4 years. What should I have expected? The same "Dragon Quest Syndrome" the rest of the series maintained? Not at all. The game was a tremendous surprise, completely re-writing and finally developing a cure for the horrid syndrome that plagued the rest of the series.

DQ8 is beautiful. The world is absolutely stunning graphically. The colours are bright, rich, and well-implemented. The character models are unique, smooth and defined. The day-night transitions on the overworld are stellar. This is probably the first thing that struck me about DQ8 - the fact that it looked much more attractive than most women I see in my daily activities (and believe me, female doctors are pretty nice on the eyes). One of the things that stuck out the most to me was in-battle graphics - most other games in the series didn't show your characters actually "attacking" enemies in battle. DQ8, however, shows them doing whatever you tell them to - casting a spell, striking with a whip, or even summoning teams of monsters to fight for you. The characters look spectacular in battle as well - different weapons and shields have different graphics in battle, with fine detail on all the random shields and other miscellaneous items in your arsenal.

Not only do your characters fight beautifully, but the cutscenes and general look of the NPCs are just as stunning. One of your party members, a girl named Jessica, has different outfits that change her appearance. These work in-battle, in the cutscenes, and generally just as you walk around the world. Despite the fanservice nature of these costumes, it's still a nice touch (I personally like the Magic Bikini the best - I don't think I took it off of her the entire game). Painstaking care was taken to make all the NPCs look and move fluidly as well. I was actually surprised that Square Enix seemed to put not only loads of work into the main players of the game's story, but also to the seemingly minor townspeople, bit players, and random monsters. From the tapdancing devils to the black and white world of darkness to Morrie and his Monster Arena, huge labours were undertaken to make everything look and flow superbly. Square Enix did a fantastic job graphically, as DQ8 is quite possibly the prettiest game out there. Just walk around on the overworld for a few minutes as day changes to night, and back to day again, and you'll really learn to appreciate how beautiful the game looks.

Now, one of the things the other games in the series have lacked has been good music and sound. Despite how much I loved Dragon Warrior 4, most of the sound was horrible. The later games in the series weren't that much better, with no music that really stood out, and horribly generic sound effects. Once more, DQ8 comes to rescue this series from mediocrity. I'm a huge music person - I feel it's one of the most important things in an RPG, or any game in general. It sets the mood, which overall affects the feel of the game. DQ8 uses a beautiful orchestrated soundtrack that absolutely fits every single mood you could possibly imagine in the game. Gone is the "bleeps" and "bloops" of previous installments; no more do we hear synthesized garblings that some call "music". What we get with DQ8 is the complete package of outstanding soundtrack.

The overworld theme ("Strange World" and the upbeat remix "Marching Through the Fields") is fantastic, fitting the vast expanse that you'll be treading over for the rest of the game. It's perfectly fitting, peaceful, and deep. Really wonderful to just sit and listen to, as I've done several times on my own. The town themes ("Chatting", "Peaceful Town") are generally very upbeat, lively and relaxing after a long time adventuring in the big, open world. Dungeon themes ("Mysterious Tower", "Ruins of Darkness") aren't as repetitive as they used to be, not looping incessantly. The battle themes come in 4 flavours: the random battle theme ("Warcry") sounds absolutely fantastic - fast, powerful and unrelenting. It's perfect, and, despite being the only random battle theme for the entire game, it isn't something you'll tire of. The normal boss theme, "Defeat the Enemy" perfectly emphasizes the importance of boss fights. It's filled with power and emphasis on the fight at hand. Very fitting. There are two major boss themes, one of which is a spoiler, the other of which is the final battle them, entitled "Battle in the Vast Sky". Most Dragon Warrior final boss themes (if they had them - some simply reused the boss theme, or even the random battle theme) were very slow, pounding, and plodding. Not really great final battle themes, all things considered. Their notes basically said, "OMG BIG DEMON LOL". DQ8's final battle theme is quick, fast-paced, and absolutely stunning. It's definitely one of my favourite final boss themes out there, and really fitting for the battle you fight it to. The music to DQ8 is extremely fitting, and a wonderful departure from the rest of the series and its digitized sound.

Special note for DQ8's sound must be given to the top notch voice acting. DQ8 has, without a doubt, the best voice acting I have ever heard in a game to this date. All character voices are perfectly fitting; all voices are filled with emotion and GUSTO; all of the voices are perfect. Every major scene and nearly every character who speaks in a plot scene has a voice, and they're all perfect. From the little kid Mash to the Templar Knight Marcello to the divine bird Empyrea, every voice is simply divine. If you're looking for the most professional, most amazing voice acting in an RPG to date, DQ8 is definitely the game to check out.

So far I've only scratched the surface of what makes DQ8 so special. The gameplay is pretty standard Dragon Warrior fare, but far, far improved and refined. First, to all those who've played the other games in the series: THERE IS NO MORE "DOOR" or "STAIR" COMMAND. This is quite possibly the single greatest departure from the entire series, and it's a necessary one. The interface in general is much touched up, making the menus much, much easier to work through. Gone are the clunky menus and constant dropping of items due to a lack of inventory space. No more is your only option of acquiring equipment to fight enemies for weeks on end. DQ8 has added loads of unique features to enhance your gameplay experience.

For instance, the Alchemy Pot is a new addition that allows you to "cook" equipment and other items. By adding 2-3 more items and letting the mixture simmer for a while, you can create extremely powerful weapons, armour, healing items, and other nasty surprises for any enemies you fight. In addition, it's a nice way to make money - combine cheap items together to make items that sell for more than it cost to buy the ingredients. Most of the game's strongest equipment is made in this way, and it's a nice refreshing change of pace from "beat enemies into a pulp for insignificant amounts of money for hours on end".

Combat is pretty simple - it's turn-based combat, with slightly randomized speed, like every other Dragon Warrior game. Still, it's much more refined than any other game in the series. You can set characters to AI if you like, or control them on your own. But what makes the combat fun and special is the new skill system. Every time a character gains a level, they might gain a new spell or ability. Even if they don't they gain skill points that they can add to a mix of 5 separate weapon/personal categories. For instance, the bandit in pajamas Yangus has the axe, scythe, club, fist and humanity skill trees. By adding a certain number of points into each tree, he unlocks new skills. These skills range from combat skills like Executioner (an auto-critical attack with 50% accuracy) to Nose for Treasure (helps you find treasure chests you missed). The skills are greatly varied between characters - even fists, a skillset shared by every character, has several unique abilities for each character. Because of this system, there are a myriad of different ways to build each character, making for a unique gameplay experience each time.

As is the case with most RPGs, DQ8 has loads of side stuff for you to engage yourself in. There's a Monster Arena, hosted by the fabulous Morrie, where you can pick up monsters you find wandering the overworld, and pit them against other teams of mosnters in groups of 3. Fighting in this arena and winning each rank gains you powerful prizes, as well as the ability to summon the monsters in-battle to fight for you (much like Yuna's Aeons in Final Fantasy X). There's also a casino where you can gamble away hours at a time at the slime slot machines, winning amazing prizes. And once you finish the game for the first time, you can play a new chapter, and acquire a second ending. All-in-all, DQ8 offers many things to do over the time you'll be playing it. And, at around 50+ hours for most players, there's lots to do!

Now, story and character development has generally been lacking in previous Dragon Warrior games. Thankfully, these two vital areas are much improved in DQ8. The story begins as you, nameless hero #434, are escorting King Trode, accompanied by your friend Yangus, in search of the mad jester Dhoulmagus. Dhoulmagus stole a sceptre from Trodain, your homeland, and turned King Trode and his daughter Medea into animals. The name of the game is to track down the sceptre, and figure out the secrets behind it. It's pretty generic to start out with, but holds interest for a good while, especially when the game really picks up midway through. While the story isn't at the level of truly epic or unique, it works for what it is.

Now, character-wise, DQ8 completely kicks the ass of the rest of the series, and holds up pretty well compared to newer games. While you have the generic Dragon Warrior hero #434 (silent), the rest of the cast is pretty strong. For party members, you have Yangus, Jessica and Angelo. Yangus, a former bandit, speaks with a deep, gruff English accent. He loves to get into fights, and has the oddest, funniest catch-phrase I've seen to date. He's entertaining in battle too, with such awesome abilities as Underpants Dance and Golden Oldies. While he looks rough, he's a nice guy at heart. Jessica is a noblewoman out for revenge. Despite the simplistic backstory, she's got strong conviction, and doesn't fall prey to the attitude changes most characters of her archetype do. Also, sexy outfits. Angelo is a templar knight, and very much a womanizer. Angelo isn't the most talkative of your party members, but when he says something, you can be sure it'll be said with lots of emotion (and a hint of sarcasm). Still, he's far from a jackass - he's devoted to his cause, despite what it seems at first. In addition to your main characters, the game sports a host of NPCs. King Trode follows you around the entire game, adding his opinions into every routine your characters follow. Morrie runs the monster arena, and his thick Italian accent and ravings about GUSTO add lots of flair to the game. There's many more exciting characters in the game, keeping it rife with polish and flair throughout the entire game. Oh, and did I mention Munchie, the mouse who eats cheese and belches out fire? Yeah, he's here too.

Now, DQ8 has a lot of outstanding features to it, but there are, as always, some pitfalls. First, the game is still, at heart, a Dragon Warrior game. You will still have a the fetch quests, the filler quests, and the long treks across the world. While DQ8 has made them far more bearable than in the past, they still exist. Second, while the story has some nice points, it really, really drags early on. Third, the combat is still Dragon Warrior combat. It's still slightly randomized, and the random encounter rate can still get on your nerves. Four, the game is long. While you can speed through it, it will still take you a good bit of time. My first runthrough was 95 hours and some odd minutes. I enjoyed every minute of it, but, as my parents have been apt to tell me many times, I'm a complete oddball.

Still, despite the flaws this game has, DQ8 completely re-writes the series. The polish is outstanding, and effort put into the game really shows off. If you're looking for a good RPG that will entertain you for a long time, DQ8 is your game. If you like old school games, DQ8 doesn't fail to deliver. If you're looking for simply a great RPG, try this game out. I doubt you'll be unimpressed.

[OblivionKnight]

The Top 11 RPGs You Need to Play

Yes, the title does sound a bit pretentious.  But I don't care - this is a review/editorial of sorts, right?  I'm supposed to sound pretentious and like I know what I'm doing!

Why Top 11?  Because I like to rip off of popular internet phenomenons (please don't sue me, Nostalgia Critic!).

The RPG genre has expanded its criteria over the years.  From the humble beginnings of Dragon Quest to Valkyria Chronicles on the newest generation systems, the genre spans a vast array of systems, as well as styles.  Arguments as to what constitutes an RPG aside, there are some that stand out due to either their story, their combat system, their music, or something completely different.  Or, alternatively, a combination of everything.  There's a lot of amazing RPGs out there - the purpose of this list is to provide a list of RPGs that I feel stand out for some reason or another.  While there are only 11 here, there are many, many, many more that are excellent for some reason or another.  But hey, you want my opinion, right? 


11. Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter

Dragon Quarter is the fifth and (so far) final installment in the Breath of Fire series by Capcom.  And it is completely different from the rest of the series.  In the world of Dragon Quarter, humanity lives under the ground, as the world above is too devastated to live in.  The series' staple hero, Ryu, is a low level human in the depths of Sheldar, the world underground.  The game is dark (well, duh, underground) and takes on a significantly different style compared to the lighter, happier remainder of the series.  The game is fairly unique in that it's designed to be replayed - the first time through the game, the story probably won't make much sense, as, until you've raised your D-Ratio to a certain level, you'll miss some scenes.  In addition, you'll miss some scenes simply because there are several split paths.  The multiple replays are made easier via the SOL system, which allows players to restart the game at different points while retaining stored experience, money, and equipment.  The average game is probably around 10-15 hours the first time, and much less than that for subsequent playthroughs.

In terms of combat, Dragon Quarter does things completely different - no more turn-based generic combat.  Instead, the combat takes place on a field, where positioning, setting traps, and out-maneuvering enemy formations is tantamount to victory.  It's different, but with a bit of strategy, can be exceptionally fun and entertaining.  The game still uses dragons as a major plot element, though they're much reduced in number.  The main character, Ryu, is possessed by a dragon as he makes his way above-ground.  This dragon form is exceptionally powerful, being immune to damage and completely overkilling anything it hits.  However, the purpose of the game is to make it to the top before the D-Counter reaches 100%.  The D-Counter is always visible on-screen, and is a marker of how much control over Ryu's body the dragon he's bonded with has.  Using the dragon raises the D-Counter, as does simply moving (though at a much lower rate).  Hence, the dragon is best used as a last resort, and thus, strategy remains the greatest part of the battle system, as it reduces the need to use the dragon. 

Dragon Quarter is a bit different from the standard fare Capcom provides, but due to the uniqueness of the style, is something everyone should take a look at, especially considering how short it is.       

10. Shadow Hearts II: Covenant

The third game in the Shadow Hearts series (second if you discount the alternatively-named Koudelka) is widely considered to be one of the best games on the PS2.  And for good reason - it balances everything amazingly well.  Great characters, great music, great story, great gameplay, replayability, balanced pacing...everything just clicks.  The game stars Yuri (despite what the box art and first hour of the game might indicate), the hero of Shadow Hearts.  He's back once more with a larger cast and a larger story, picking up on the heels of the Bad Ending of the first game.  He's joined by Karin, a German Military Office; Gepetto, an old, perverted French dollmaker; Blanca, a dog that's smarter than most of the cast; Joachim, a homosexual vampire wrestler; Lucia, a fortune-teller from Italy; Anastasia, the Russian princess; and Kurando, Yuri's distant cousin.  Together they fight off a horde terrifying enemies, including a midget on a carpet, a Dan Brown rip-off, Rasputin, a dominatrix, a biker, and an enormous chin attached to a man.  As you can tell, the cast is fairly unique.

Combat-wise, Shadow Hearts uses a timed hit system, rewarding players who can use it, but providing options for players who have trouble with it.  It's a very player-friendly game and system - there is only one item that is "lost forever", and it's replaceable by another item you can't miss in the game.  The game is generally fairly easy, but isn't so pathetically easy that the game isn't fun to play.  There's a huge amount of side quests and optional areas to do, with references to past and future games in the series.  It's a very vivid and dynamic world to explore, which is where part of its charm comes from.

But just because it's a sequel doesn't mean you need to play the prior installment to enjoy the game - it makes the game more enjoyable, yes, but the game is designed to help seamlessly integrate any player into the vast, unique world of Shadow Hearts.  Covenant is designed for anyone to enjoy, and due to its high quality, is a game that everyone should play.

9. Phantasy Star IV: End of the Millennium

The best RPG on the Sega Genesis, fairly easily, and one that still stands up reasonably well today.  Phantasy Star 4 is in fact the end of the main Phantasy Star series (Phantasy Star Online and Universe are not part of the main series).  Similar to Covenant above, one can enjoy the game without playing the rest of the prior installments.  In the era of Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star 4 didn't get the exposure it deserved.  The game was exceptional for its time, and still stands up well today.  The game begins with two Hunters, Chaz and Alys, who are hired to clear a school of monsters in the basement.  The adventure continues as Chaz encounters new allies (from a cat-girl to a thousand year old android) and learns the history of the Algol star system and brings about the culmination 4 games in the making. 

The game does many things to make the experience simple and enjoyable for the player.  The game features a combat system that players can modify to ease battles by using something called macros.  Macros are set command sets of actions for your party to perform in battle.  With one simple button press, the battle will commence the way you want it to, with your characters acting in the order you indicated.  This is also helpful for performing combination attacks, spell/technique combinations that are typically stronger than the component parts, or strike every enemy on screen when the original attacks only hit one target.  These help make battles flow faster, and decrease the redundancy and more boring aspects of combat.  Outside of combat, the game moves quickly, at a good pace to keep things interesting.  Loads of unique and memorable characters permeate the game, and for fans of the series as a whole, they'll see familiar faces in unexpected places.  The game also offers solid visuals, particularly for the time it was released.  Character portraits are clear, and still cutscenes accompany plot-heavy segments of the game, all of which look amazing, even by today's standards. 

While overshadowed by other games released around the same time, Phantasy Star 4 is definitely a highlight of the era, and still stands up even in the face of flashier, higher budget games released today.  Definitely a game everyone should give a try to.

8. Rudra no Hihō (Treasure of Rudra)

The first and only non-US-released RPG I'll put in this list is a very unique entry, even ignoring the fact that it came from across the ocean.  This game was released near the end of the lifespan of the SNES, and never made its way overseas.  Which is a shame, as Rudra is arguably one of Squaresoft's best entries into the RPG world.  The game takes place in a world on the brink of extinction, 15 days before the current inhabitants of the planet, humanity, are to be cleansed and life begun anew.  The story's backdrop is based on Indian Mythology, and the Wheel of Time - every 4000 years a different species inherits the world, and after 4000 years of their dominance, the world is destroyed and recreated.  At the end of the human era, 3 heroes fight to try and stop this, and uncover the secret of the the creation of the world.  The game features a day/night countdown system, and allows you to jump between the different heroes' groups.  The storyline is well-developed and adult, probably Square's most adult and advanced story on any of the pre-Playstation systems. 

But what really makes this game unique is the combat system.  Not specifically the combat system itself, but the magic system.  Magic spells are written in books called mantras, and scribed in letters.  So scribin the word aqu, for instance, will perform a water magic attack.  You can combine words, prefixes, and suffixes for different spells together to make spells that heal, revive, strike every target on the battlefield, etc.  Experimenting by watching enemy spells or playing around on your own is part of the fun of the game, and can give you some insanely powerful abilities early on in the game. 

You'll have to emulate this game to play it outside of Japan (or even inside of Japan, as the game was released in 1996), but there's a very good translation patch out there, and you can find the ROM without much looking.  Very unique, and definitely deserving of a spot on this list.

7. Baten Kaitos II: Origins - Beginning of the Wings and the Heir of the Gods

Origins was released at the end of the Gamecube's life, and was sadly glanced over by most players.  Admittedly, the gameplay can initially be a turn-off at a glance, especially if you played the first in the series (Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and Lost Ocean) - I mean, a card-game combat system?  It sounds odd.  Most people who did play it found it charming, however, though it had some problems (the voice acting in particular was pretty atrocious).  Two years later, Origins came along and improved on everything, correcting all the issues people had with the original, including the voice acting.  Origins really pushed the limits of what the Gamecube could do - stunning visuals, intricate battle systems, a twisting story, and quite possible the best RPG soundtrack ever.  The game takes place 20 years before the first, and stars only 3 characters, instead of the original game's 6, and the story moves at a faster pace than the original, pulling the player in fast.

The visuals, as noted, are amazing.  Every area of the game looks different, and every character looks unique.  Colours, detail - the game goes to painstaking levels to detail every little aspect of the characters visually, and it shows.  The worlds look amazing and unique - worlds of crystal, worlds lush with plant life, worlds of industrial growth - there's huge amounts of variety in every little detail.  This is also evident in the music, which as said before is amazing, and probably Sakuraba's greatest masterpiece, and the battle system.  The game utilized Magnus, cards, that your characters pick up and use.  Before battle, you prime your deck with whatever mix of cards you want - weapons (to attack with), armour (to defend against enemy attacks with), finishing strikes (special, character-unique attacks that finish off a card combo), healing (for...well, healing), cameras (for taking pictures), and a host of others.  In battle, when your turn is up, you pick cards to use on an enemy or ally.  When it's an enemy's turn, you pull out your armour cards to defend against their attacks.  That's the most basic aspect - there's huge amounts of detail in the battle system, just like the rest of the game.  Certain cards can be combined for different effects, from adding status to increasing your damage astronomically.  It's a bit hard to explain in such a short space, but if you like battle depth, Baten Kaitos is for you.

Since the Wii is backwards compatible, and Gamecube games are cheap now, there's no excuse to not play this gem of a game.

6. Soul Nomad and the World Eaters

A hero wields a possessed sword inhabited by a murderous God who tried to destroy the world not too long ago.  That's the background of Soul Nomad, released by Nippon Ichi in 2007 for the Playstation 2.  The game is a strategy RPG, like most Nippon Ichi fare, but is a bit of a departure from the rest of their games, and in a very good way.  The storyline is inventive and very fleshed out, and takes place over two path.  The main path, called the Hero path, takes the Hero throughout the world of Prodesto, fighting battles and generally getting to the bottom of why the world was nearly destroyed a while ago.  The second path, called the Demon path, is the complete reverse - you work on finishing the destruction caused years ago.  The game is filled with a cast of lively characters, as per the standard Nippon Ichi fare, and features many departures from the usual stereotypical fare.

As mentioned, the game is a strategy RPG, but more akin to the Ogre Battle series than anything, except much more polished.  You can set up a party that consists of up to 9 squads with up to 9 fighters in each squad.  Each potential character, generic or otherwise, has unique attacks depending on which row of the formation they're placed in, as well as unique special abilities to use on the field, typically support abilities to enhance their effectiveness.  There's a large amount of strategy involved in what units you mix in, especially with the unique "rooms" your squads can be fit in to.  These rooms vary from having no special abilities to providing very unique effects to those stationed in them.  Also, it's easy to build new characters - you don't have to level them up if you don't want to, as long as your Hero is kept up to date.  In addition, there's a lot of interaction with the world - from changing dialogue to the ability to steal from or even devour NPCs, the game is typically never the same twice.  Also, the music Rock'n ROcks.

Whether you like strategy RPGs or not there's most likely something in Soul Nomad to please you.  If you can find it, I highly suggest you pick up a copy.   

5. Planescape: Torment

PC RPGs typically don't receive the attention that console RPGs do.  Torment is a bit of an exception, in that it has received a lot of critical praise for its intriguing, psychologically thrilling storyline and amazing writing.  The game is done in a D&D style, and follows a story that focuses on reincarnation and the punishment -torment- of those who are reincarnated.  The game is very unique in that combat is generally kept to the bare minimum - talking is generally far more important than being able to bash faces in.  In fact, the majority of combat in the game is avoidable, including the final battle.  The script for the game contains about 800,000 words, with huge numbers of different dialogue options that change as the game progresses.  In fact, the storyline is very dynamic and never the same, and doesn't focus on saving the world, but on finding out the past and discovering the truth.  It is a completely different take on the RPG genre, averting many of the cliches even the best RPGs fall victim to.

The combat, admittedly, seems like an afterthought, but again, that's not the focus of the game.  Torment does a spectacular job of immersing the player in its dark, twisting setting.  Death is just as much a part of gameplay as "winning" a fight is, and in fact may be necessary to learn more about the history of the world.  Conversation is also a way to change the scope of the world - by spreading a rumour that a made-up person exists, that person will eventually become real.  It's nice touches like this that make the game a treat to play - it treats the players as adults, and lets them play with the world as they see fit. 

Dynamic and unique in setting, Torment is a fine example of PC gaming, and definitely a very unique experience for anyone interested RPGs. 

4. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Persona 4 was released right on the heels of the success of Persona 3 in 2007.  Featuring an updated combat system, removal of the oft-maligned party AI feature, a new story, and overall many improvements, the game is generally regarded as one of the best of the Shin Megami Tensei series, and is relatively popular to the mainstream audience.  Featuring a murder mystery in a small town that encompasses a large swath of Japanese folk lore, the game takes a different route towards the usual "save the world" style of RPG, beginning with high school.  The game is a bit of a simulation of high school life in Japan - you must balance your time in the game between seeing your friends, preparing for exams, and killing demons.  Like most students in school, really.  Building up your friendship with people you meet strengthens your combat ability, as well as that of your allies, making it important balance your social and "work" life to succeed.

The characters are charming, the music great, but the greatest part of the game is probably the combat.  It's pretty amazing when an RPG can use a J-POP vocal as a battle theme, but the combat fits it perfectly.  Similar to some of the past entries in the Shin Megami Tensei series, when striking a weakness or critical on an opponent, you are provided with an extra action.  Using and planning for this is a huge part of the strategy in the game, and proper set-up helps mitigate being completely raped in battle.  The game is also exceptionally customizable - there are many personas your main character can use, and each one has different skills and affinities that can be passed on to other personas via fusion, allowing you to create some killer set-ups if you play with the system.  It's pretty addicting, and should provide hours of entertainment.

While it wasn't the first in it's class, Persona 4 improved on the formula greatly, and as such is a popular, very good game recommended for anyone that likes RPGs.

3. Wild ARMs: The Fourth Detonator

The Wild ARMs series is known for the western, wasteland-style feel of the world.  Your party is generally trying to save the world from completely decaying, fighting off against demons, humans, and killer rabbits with a mix of swords, guns, and magic.  Wild ARMs 4 re-invented the style of the series, a complete departure from the previous games.  Gone is the turn-based combat and slower pacing.  Wild ARMs 4 is fast-paced, active, and filled with loads of entertaining dialogue completely unmatched in the previous installments.  Your group of 4 characters moves throughout the dying world of Filgaia, once again searching for the truth behind the world's decay, but also on a journey to define what it means to be an adult.  The characters of your party are amazingly fleshed out, the music amazingly well-defined, the world surprisingly immersive, and the pacing fast and action-packed.

What probably sells people the most is the fast-paced combat system.  Instead of the traditional turn-based style employed by the rest of the series, Detonator employs a conditional-turn-based system with movement on a 7 hex grid.  Positioning, speed, and range play a role in battle, and this is accentuated by the characters and their individual skillsets, designed to be used in combination.  Raquel deals the most damage in the party, but is exceptionally slow.  Arnaud has skills that weaken enemies.  Yulie focuses on support and healing.  Jude's specialty is speed and situational attacks.  Every character is designed to enhance each other and work as a team - many battles require teamwork to be successful, especially since even the weakest of enemies can wipe out your party.  The game provides good challenge with this system, and employs the positional battle system in very creative ways - for instance, a boss that, upon entering the center hex, will obliterate the entire party, or a random enemy that is tough to take out in the usual ways, but if left in a poison-filled hex, will die quickly.  There are so many ways to play with the system, and so many extra quest to do, that replays don't get boring, and in fact, can be even more entertaining than the original playthrough.

While a complete departure from the norms of the series, Wild ARMs 4 is definitely worth a play for the creative battle system it employs.   

2. Valkyrie Profile

Valkyrie Profile was initially released for the Playstation in 2000 by Enix before the Square-Enix merger, with an updated version released for the PSP after the merger (called Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth) in 2006.  2000 was a huge year for RPG releases, and this game was no exception.  As the Aesir prepare for war against the Vanir in the aptly named Ragnarok, you take on the role of Lenneth Valkyrie, collecting brave, dead humans to serve in the battle coming.  Of course, being that this is war, and the Aesir and Vanir aren't anywhere near as slow as the French and British circa 1939, you're on a bit of a tight schedule here.  Each part of the game is cut into different chapters, each chapter opening up different dungeons, characters to recruit, and additional plot regarding the true nature of the war.  There are also 3 endings to the game, although the "best" ending is a bit obscure. 

The story is mostly a backdrop for the fighting aspect of the game.  Each character in battle fights distinctly, with different weapons, ranges of attack, and a different special attack (called a PWS or Purify Weird Soul) to perform in battle.  When battle is initiated, each character is assigned to a different button, and pressing that button will cause that character to unleash their attack string on an opponent, possibly culminating in a PWS if the right conditions are met.  Combat is pretty simple to understand, but mastering it - knowing how each character fights and when to best use the PWS attacks - is important to fully graps the combat of the game, and can take some time.  And as you build up your characters, they get stronger, and can acquire characteristics (hero traits) that make them more beneficial for the war in Asgard.  Once a character is ready to be sent, you release their souls to Asgard to fight in the upcoming war.  This continues until your reach one of the endings, which take place during Ragnarok.  The game also features a lot of platforming, which makes it a bit more action-oriented than most RPGs. 

The series has been pretty successful for Square-Enix so far, so why not go pick up the original and see how it all began?

1. The Bard's Tale

No, this isn't the first person dungeon game that was ported to the Nintendo and the PC.  This is the spiritual sequel released in 2004 for the Playstation 2 and 2005 for the PC.  Why is this game sitting at the number one spot?  Because it is a parody of the RPG in general.  It's more of an action RPG similar to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance than anything, but don't let that turn you off.  It stars The Bard, who doesn't give a damn about saving the world, only about "coin and cleavage".  The story is narrated, like many other games, except that the narrator enjoys breaking the fourth wall, and has no qualms about ridiculing the protagonist of the story.  The quest is humorous and filled with Celtic mythology, and such mythic creatures as dragons, giant fire-breathing rats, tapdancing zombies, and goblins auditioning for American Idol.  The game allows you to be a complete prick if you like, and in an interesting subversion, this is actually beneficial for the hero.  The game's even got several musical numbers, not that common for RPGs outside of Rhapsody.  Featuring huge amounts of genre savvyness ("Aren't these wolves supposed to drop gold and not, you know, red hoods and picnic baskets"?), this game doesn't stop with the hilariousness.  And the game even features 3 endings that vary in hilariousness.

Combat, as stated, is more akin to an action RPG than anything.  The Bard can fight, but his big thing is summoning allies.  From Gods to old women to demonic rats, The Bard never needs to fight alone, although he's more than capable.  And you can even meet some other "chosen ones"...most of whom have been killed or arrested ("Hey, the house was open!  You're supposed to loot the houses in an RPG!").  The combat is secondary to the dialogue in general, but still can be challenging and necessitate a bit of strategy at times.  And hey, killing mighty knights with a tiny rat that snaps their necks in half is pretty awesome, you have to admit.   

Funny and fun, there's no reason you shouldn't play this awesome RPG.  Remember, coin and cleavage!


So that's the end.  All the games listed previously display something unique that I think anyone can find something to enjoy in them.  And most of them are pretty cheap.  If you find them lying around, give them a try - I doubt you'll be disappointed.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Nice list. Wild Arms 4 seems a little high to me, especially considering how all of your other picks were so much stronger on story elements, whereas WA4's strength always struck me as gameplay-based.

Reminds me that I need to play Treasure of Rudra.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Unshockingly I have the total opposite opinion of Djinn and feel that WA4 being that high is wonderful. (Also it is stronger on story elements than PS4, much as I love it, and BoF5.)

The list avoids any game that could be considered "mainstream" - not a single title by Square, Square Enix, or Nintendo; the least successful BoF game is the one on the list, the only Enix title is the relatively cult (if wonderful) VP, etc. I'm not sure if this is deliberate or not. Feels like something the opening should acknowledge, however. "You need to play" implies the reader may not have played most of them, but expanding on it explicitly is good.

Nice writeups overall, OK.

[Meeplelard]

BoFDQ being on the list alone makes me leery, since while I like the game a lot, I'm fully acknowledging that its a total niche game.

If this was more of a "games you likely haven't played but should!" list?  Ok, then yeah,  I guess that makes sense but still, some elaboration would be nice.

[SageAcrin]

BoFDQ makes sense on there if you read it literally.

Games you need to play. Not necessarily finish, but try. Within that, I can't see anything to objectively object to on that list, the games that aren't for everyone have mostly generated startlingly strong niches or have some really odd unique ideas in them.

[Scar]

I like it.

Ok, you made the list, so let me borrow the games.

...

He said games that I NEED to play! It only seems right that he provides the games if he were to bring them to my attention!

[OblivionKnight]

Legend of Dragoon

So far I've only really talked about things I like.  Or at least, things I don't have a problem with.  

About time we change that, yes?  

Legend of Dragoon was released in the United States in 2000, and was the first RPG published and designed by Sony Computer Entertainment of America.  Of all the games I can remember being advertised on TV, this game tops the charts.  The game touted a 3 year development time and a development staff of over 100 people.  It had many, many commercials illustrating the game's graphics and cutscenes, and also quite possibly the most awesome commercial ever.  Take a look at it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEs2OlW25Ao .  Pretty hilarious, and is the only game commercial I remember to this day.  

Huge amounts of hype, one of the best advertising campaigns I can remember, lots of creative minds, and a long development time that wasn't marred by hilariously awful development hell (hi, Duke Nuke'em Forever!).  Wait, is that even possible for a game?  Seriously?  This thing might live up to the RPG hype!  This is going to be so awesome!

Of course, you can probably tell where this is going by now.

Well, the graphics (the CG cutscenes, to be specific) are awesome.  They look wonderful, flow fluidly, and are definitely on par with those of Final Fantasy 8 and 9, which this game was compared to many times.  In particular, the final, end-game cutscene was awesome, showing off the graphics design and pushing the engine to its best.  What you saw in the video posted above is exactly what you see in-game - fluid and gorgeous.  Unfortunately, the problem with this is that they are spread so thin.  The CG cutscenes are few and far between, nearly non-existent in the first two discs, and then not prevalent enough on the last two.  What you saw in the video posted above is a scene from every cutscene in the game.  There are a total of 17 "cutscenes" in the game.  Of these, one is the epilogue, rendered in-game.  The rest of these are done in CG - however, only a few of them make actual use of the graphics.  Of the remaining 16, 4 of them are composed of scrolling words and still pictures (scrolls, ancient drawings, etc.), 7 are short scenes with very little action (mostly just looking at objects, and most of these are very dark, so it's hard to make things out), leaving only 5 that really show off what the engine can do.  They all look pretty, don't get me wrong, but they are used very inefficiently.  In addition to the poor pacing of cutscenes, they're so random - cutscenes are designed to enhance major events in a story with visuals, but when you get randomly shown a cutscene of a tree way before you learn about it in the story (and it comes out of left field), it's hard to correlate things.  Pretty, but not used as well as they could be.

As an example, there's a character that dies relatively early on in the game.  Is this modeled in CG?  No.  It uses the in-game graphics noted on below, with text appearing during the entire scene.  It's slow and the effect is pretty minimal - it really doesn't seem very epic or provide much in the way of "dear god he just KILLED someone!".  Why wasn't this put in CG?  I mean, it would have been perfect - it would have been faster and more epic, and would have looked infinitely better.  Much moreso than the in-game graphics.

The pretty CG graphics?  Gone, and replaced by blocky pixellations that are somewhere between Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8 in quality.  Which is to say, not bad for the Playstation.  But unfortunately, there are a bunch of graphical issues.  Borders aren't well-defined in the environment, and thus your characters will cut through the background and scenery, sometimes mixing their color schemes up.  In addition, you'll also see characters glitch, watching the sprites flicker in and out, or disappear completely.  It's pretty offensive, considering the game was in development for 3 years.  

Ok, graphics are good when used appropriately, but generally way underutilized and full of glitches.  What else?

In terms of music, Legend of Dragoon has a pretty weak soundtrack.  I can only think of one song I really liked on it.  Now, the instrumentals that play during the CG cutscenes are good, don't get me wrong.  But as mentioned earlier, there aren't enough of them.  We primarily get the in-game music that is variable from acceptable to atrocious.  The battle themes are pretty lacklustre, and sound more like cacophonies of cackling schizophrenics.  At least early on.  The Wingly Battle theme is a bit better, though only heard in 3 areas of the game.  The final battle theme is...ok, but nothing spectacular, and is implemented very poorly, interrupted consistently by music that lasts for 15 seconds but would be a better battle theme itself if fleshed out.  Most of the town themes are pretty good, and the overworld themes are nice too.  They utilize plenty of french horn and woodwind, which sound very nice and peaceful - the unfortunate part being that you spend so little time in areas where you hear them.  Dungeon themes...fairly forgettable, and utterly generic, with not standout instrumentation.  Probably a more memorable soundtrack than Xenosaga Episode III, but still nothing particularly amazing.  You hear the battle themes too often, and they're generally bad, which, unfortunately, stands out more than some of the better themes.

While the in-game soundtrack as a whole is blase, the game does sport one of the best vocals made for an RPG, "If You Still Believe".  The singer's voice is gorgeous, the melody intoxicating - make no mistake, despite it singing about love like oh so many other songs, it's orchestrated beautifully and has a haunting, memorable rhythm to it.  The piano is beautiful, the background voices implemented wonderfully - yeah, one of my favourite RPG, and video game, vocals.  The high point of the soundtrack by far.

Now, I know the sandwich style of comments dictates a bad comment between 2 good ones, but unfortunately, the last parts of the music and sounds of the game are not good.  The sound effects are generic, and some even sound way, way off - in particular, there's a lot of dissonance with some of the spells.  Listen to the spells, and you'll notice that the sound effects don't always sync with the attacks.  The same goes for the game's Additions, as the slashes, punches, and kicks don't always coincide with the sound effects very well.  And it's not just simple stuff - the big bad Dragon Summons really sound kind of...anemic.  I mean, when a massive, hulking dragon makes a sound that sounds like it was meant to come from a goat, I'm a little confused.  I suppose it could be argued as a bit of a joke, but I doubt it - it doesn't really fit with the style of the game.

And the voice acting!  Oh dear god.  Star Ocean: The Second Story has some pretty bad voice acting in my opinion.  Legend of Dragon is at least as bad, potentially worse.  Again, 3 years, 100+ people working on the game, and you'd think that the law of averages would find at least one good actor.  But dear lord, the voice acting is awful.  There is so little emotion in lines that should be heartfelt, so little effort that it feels like all the lines are forced.  To a point, it's funny ("ASS...tral Drain!"), but after that it gets downright pathetic ("EXPLOSION! GRRRRAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!").  It's like they weren't even trying.  And yelling out the names of the Additions was pretty dumb - not because calling your attack names is stupid, but because the names they used were, uh, shall we say impotent?  More and More?  Pursuit?  They don't look like their names, let alone sound like them, and I think the voice actors realized this while they were doing their lines.  Just...yeah.  Bad.  

So, what about gameplay?  Well, as you might remember (if you're as old as I am), the game promised to feature a new, active combat system using Additions.  Each of the 7 characters (barring one of them, who has no Additions) has a unique set of attacks they can perform.  For instance, at level 1, a character may only have a single attack that deals minimal damage.  To perform this attack, a blue box will appear on-screen, and the player must input a button press at the time this blue box centres itself inside another blue box on the screen.  It was a different concept for the time, and several other games (in particular, Shadow Hearts) use similar systems.  It also...generally works in practice.  Not perfect - some of the Additions can be frustrating to learn the timing of, which hinders learning new Additions, which hinders your offense - but is fairly inventive and unique.  Score points, Legend of Dragoon.

Other aspects of gameplay...continuing on the combat side of things, the game uses a turn-based system, though not in the traditional style.  Fast characters can get multiple actions compared to slower characters, which is a nice touch.  Defending, usually a minor point in most games, is exceptionally helpful in this game - it not only reduces damage, but also restores HP and prevents status attacks from hitting your characters.  It's also a bit broken - proper use of this makes healing with items or magic relatively out-dated, and can kind of wreck most bosses by just defending with characters for a while, attacking only when needed.  It also makes randoms a good time for HP restoration, made even easier by the fact that enemies really aren't threatening.  In general, the game's fairly easy, though there are a few good challenges, mostly in the optional areas.  

But what about the Dragoon transformations?  Well...uh...they kind of suck.  You level them up from level 1 to level 5 by attacking in battle and gaining SP through Additions.  Each different Addition gains different SP amounts.  Once you've built up enough SP, your characters can transform in to Dragoons.  As a Dragoon, you can now use magic, you have a different Addition (the same for everyone), and have stronger defenses.  Unfortunately, magic is not amazing (in most cases), the new Addition is weaker than the human Additions, and the defenses are not as good as you'd expect, as you can't defend in Dragoon form.  In particular, since MP is a bit hard to come by, compounded by a 32 item limit, and HP is easy to come by (defending), healing magic isn't particularly vital, and offensive magic is generally too cost-inefficient compared to just hitting things normally.  This kind of makes battles boring, as there isn't a standout aspect of battle.  In general, I would call the battles kind of generic.  There really isn't much that's unique in them, besides the Additions.      

A lot of the other aspects of the game are kind of generic too.  You gain levels and money by fighting, with the majority of it coming from boss fights.  You move around on the Overworld to your next destination.  You fight in a relatively turn-based environment.  It sounds kind of boring, because it kind of is.  The game really doesn't have anything in combat that makes uses of its system.  Which is a bit sad, really, as I can see the potential there, but it just isn't using it.

Speaking of generic aspects of the game, the characters are...kind of generic.  Dart, the spikey-haired hero with an oversized sword (no, not Cloud, this one is different...he wears RED, not purple-ish black!), comes home to find his friend Shana, who has been captured because she is special.  Along the way, he meets a soldier, a king, that girl he was looking for, an older girl, a giant dumb guy, an old man, a mean senator-nun-lady, a hyperactive young girl, some enigmatic silver-haired badguy (no, no...this guy isn't based off Sephiroth - he has WINGS, as in, 2!), and a mix of other characters.  None of them except Rose really are that memorable.  They're all a mix of cliches.  None are offensive, really, but they're all boring.  Rose is pretty good, though, getting a good deal of development (...more than the rest of the cast, including the hero...) and plenty of plot relevance.  But she's it.  It's really hard to connect with any characters, since they are so generic and bland.  

The story itself is also...generic.  While it has a few unique and interesting plot twists (The Black Monster), many of them are so obvious I think even the blind could read the game script and figure them out ("That person related to you has the same name as a person related to me.  This can't possibly be significant in any way whatsoever!").  The story isn't offensive, much like the characters, really, but it's nothing standout.  One of the positive notes I do have to give to the story is that it does tie up everything - there aren't any crazy loose strings that need fixing for a sequel that might never come.  

I think part of this generic character and story syndrome stems from the fact that the game's translation and script are not good.  I'm not sure if they hired a fifth grader to do the writing, or if there was a bit too much mescaline at the writer's headquarters.  It's...pretty awful, marred by spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as lines not syncing up with voices.  For instance!

"You'd make good wife."

"Shut up. Talking make you die."

Also, one of the character Additions is called Flower Storm, but one of the characters who uses it calls it Blossom Storm, while the other calls it Flower Storm.  The skills are the same, text-wise, for both characters.  Not sure how that got through...

Oh, and apparently, all sacred objects are not "hallowed", but "hollowed".  Because somehow, artifacts that cannot be pierced by mortal arms can be drilled through and hollowed out like the skull of whatever English teacher didn't fail this game's proof-readers.  

I could go on, but I won't.  I will say that it does get worse (and starts losing punctuation, too) near the end, though.  Probably best not to really read it much...you won't miss anything.  Exceptionally bad is when it makes theoretically tear-jerking scenes comedic gold.  Actually, that might not be so bad...

Ok, so how does this all sum up?  Well, while writing this, I realized that the game probably isn't as bad as I initially thought.  I mean, sure, it has some bad parts here, 95% of which are unforgivable, but the other parts are less offensive/better than I realized.  Still not a fan of the game, really - for the huge amounts of hype and awesome parts (commercials, CG graphics), the majority of the game does not live up to its potential.  Generic story and characters, bad writing and translation, and generally mediocre/glitchy graphics with sub-par music is not a recipe for success.  On the other hand, it does have an excellent vocal, and...isn't offensive in most areas.  But really, the biggest issue with Legend of Dragoon would be that it doesn't feel like it was in development for 3 years.  I think I was expecting a lot more than what I got.  

Overall, not horrible, but a game that definitely is marred by problems.  A generic battle system, story, characters, glitchy graphics, poorly utilized and paced cutscenes, sub-par music, and ENGLISH RAGE-inducing text is not something I would be expecting from such a large undertaking by Sony at game design.

[Clear Tranquil]

 

Unfortunately, magic is not amazing

*scratches head*