Post by Liquid Rogue on Apr 16, 2004 10:55:24 GMT -5
Game Arc : Twilight of the Spirits
Format Playstation 2
Im going to be straight and honest here : I was a bit cautious of buying this game when I saw it for £35 in Glasgows best import shop, G-Force. The reason? My mate had played a demo of it and described the battles as "far too slow" and talked
about how random battles in it would make you want to throw the game out of the window. However, having just completed FFX-2, I was in Glasgow to get my hands on more RPGs, so I happily purchased it along with Skies of Arcadia and Chrono Cross (U.S. Import).
When I turned it on, I knew my mate was mistaken. Yes, it is true that random battles would cause me to throw the game out of the window, but the fact is, there are no dungeons in the game, and the only place you encounter enemies is the world map, and even there encounters are very sparse. The games storyline is weaved around fighting, so there are hundreds of storyline fights, similar to the PSXs Front Mission 3. Whats more is that the battle system, i'll admit, is slow, but its so involving that you forget about the length and have fun playing it. Characters and Enemies take it in turns to move, based on speed. During a characters turn, a blue bubble surrounds the character, and he or she (or it
may move anywhere in the bubble. With a tap of the R1 button, the range circle appears, showing you your attacking range. Jammy bastards who use this system professionally will be able to aim for the back of their opponents, and attack two (or moreP) enemies in a singe attack. A nice feature of the game is Levels Up : instead of collecting EXP after battle, your team gather it in battle, and gain levels up mid battle. However, SP, unlike EXP, is collected after battle. SP is used for your skills, not for using them, but for "buying" them. As you gather SP, your "Class" increases, granting the ability to "spend" your SP on even more powerfull skills. Using skills uses Spirit Stones, a finite resource that cannot be restored by resting : You must buy them from shops. This system forces the player to be cautious of using skills, which is a nice feature.
Speaking of Spirit Stones, they play a major role in the story. Basically, the population of the world is divided into two races : Humans and Deimos. Both races hate each other, and fight over the Spirit Stones. Humans need them for powering machines, and Deimos need them for using magic. Let me speak about the story for a while. Take my word for it : It is amazing and unbeleivibly gripping. Humans are fighting Humans. Deimos are fighting Deimos. Humans and Deimos are fighting each other. The game is played from the point of veiw of a young human boy called Khrag, and also as a hated Deimos slave called Darc. Both are given the task of saving their own races, but what they dont know is that they are brothers. The two storys cross eventually, but along the way you can see the effect of what Khrags party has done in Darcs story, and vice versa. This makes the story extremly intresting and gripping.
A not so nice feature of the game is the sound. Theres nothing wrong with the music, the tracks suit the game perfectly and most are quite memorable, and the actuall sound effects are great, its just the voice acting that slips. Its not the quality of it, its the lack of it. On their team they have Raiden from MGS2 and Tidus from FFX'es Quintun Flynn, an extremly talented voice actor. However, the voice acting is so sparse, well, in the normal dialogue anyways. Battle cries such as "You'll never defeat me!!" are common, and voice acting occurs in the skills too ("Oh blasting wind, become my blade..Wind Blade Waltz!!")
Personally, I would recommend this title to anyone who likes RPGs. The storyline is one of the best I have seen in an RPG so far, the graphics are great, and, although sparse, the voice acting is very pleasing.
<Plus Points>
Great storyline (+2)
Nice graphics (+1)
Intresting battle system (+1)
Memorable soundtrack (+1)
Fantastic characters (+1)
Nice voice acting (+1)
Score + 7
<Minus Points>
A tad repeditive. (-1)
Unexplorable world map. (-1)
Score - 2
Final Score : 7/9 (Max score is done by Plus Points + Minus Points. Actual score is done by Max score - Minus Points.
Format Playstation 2
Im going to be straight and honest here : I was a bit cautious of buying this game when I saw it for £35 in Glasgows best import shop, G-Force. The reason? My mate had played a demo of it and described the battles as "far too slow" and talked
about how random battles in it would make you want to throw the game out of the window. However, having just completed FFX-2, I was in Glasgow to get my hands on more RPGs, so I happily purchased it along with Skies of Arcadia and Chrono Cross (U.S. Import).
When I turned it on, I knew my mate was mistaken. Yes, it is true that random battles would cause me to throw the game out of the window, but the fact is, there are no dungeons in the game, and the only place you encounter enemies is the world map, and even there encounters are very sparse. The games storyline is weaved around fighting, so there are hundreds of storyline fights, similar to the PSXs Front Mission 3. Whats more is that the battle system, i'll admit, is slow, but its so involving that you forget about the length and have fun playing it. Characters and Enemies take it in turns to move, based on speed. During a characters turn, a blue bubble surrounds the character, and he or she (or it
may move anywhere in the bubble. With a tap of the R1 button, the range circle appears, showing you your attacking range. Jammy bastards who use this system professionally will be able to aim for the back of their opponents, and attack two (or moreP) enemies in a singe attack. A nice feature of the game is Levels Up : instead of collecting EXP after battle, your team gather it in battle, and gain levels up mid battle. However, SP, unlike EXP, is collected after battle. SP is used for your skills, not for using them, but for "buying" them. As you gather SP, your "Class" increases, granting the ability to "spend" your SP on even more powerfull skills. Using skills uses Spirit Stones, a finite resource that cannot be restored by resting : You must buy them from shops. This system forces the player to be cautious of using skills, which is a nice feature.Speaking of Spirit Stones, they play a major role in the story. Basically, the population of the world is divided into two races : Humans and Deimos. Both races hate each other, and fight over the Spirit Stones. Humans need them for powering machines, and Deimos need them for using magic. Let me speak about the story for a while. Take my word for it : It is amazing and unbeleivibly gripping. Humans are fighting Humans. Deimos are fighting Deimos. Humans and Deimos are fighting each other. The game is played from the point of veiw of a young human boy called Khrag, and also as a hated Deimos slave called Darc. Both are given the task of saving their own races, but what they dont know is that they are brothers. The two storys cross eventually, but along the way you can see the effect of what Khrags party has done in Darcs story, and vice versa. This makes the story extremly intresting and gripping.
A not so nice feature of the game is the sound. Theres nothing wrong with the music, the tracks suit the game perfectly and most are quite memorable, and the actuall sound effects are great, its just the voice acting that slips. Its not the quality of it, its the lack of it. On their team they have Raiden from MGS2 and Tidus from FFX'es Quintun Flynn, an extremly talented voice actor. However, the voice acting is so sparse, well, in the normal dialogue anyways. Battle cries such as "You'll never defeat me!!" are common, and voice acting occurs in the skills too ("Oh blasting wind, become my blade..Wind Blade Waltz!!")
Personally, I would recommend this title to anyone who likes RPGs. The storyline is one of the best I have seen in an RPG so far, the graphics are great, and, although sparse, the voice acting is very pleasing.
<Plus Points>
Great storyline (+2)
Nice graphics (+1)
Intresting battle system (+1)
Memorable soundtrack (+1)
Fantastic characters (+1)
Nice voice acting (+1)
Score + 7
<Minus Points>
A tad repeditive. (-1)
Unexplorable world map. (-1)
Score - 2
Final Score : 7/9 (Max score is done by Plus Points + Minus Points. Actual score is done by Max score - Minus Points.
