First off, let me tell you about the first five minutes of the game...What on EARTH was going on!!! Had I not been a patient bloke, i'd have sent this back to the shop post haste-now the first five minutes are perhaps the worst display of the game EVER, but give this game time and it will turn out to be utterly rewarding. The game follows Klein, an alchemist wishing to further his knowledge and find all the manna's and Lita-a "monster hunter." Other characters as always, come and go. Now previous games of this series (although never released in this country) did not have a storyline, but this one does, following rivalries between Klein and the army, the quest for the manna and everything else, this has a fairly solid story line with a good number of twists to please any fan of RPGs. The graphics are...different. Whilst the characters are in 2D and the designs are not great, the world, although it has 2D elements is 3D-and best of all, you can interact with everything-including jumping from building to building. The villages are always neat, and pleasently drawn. The gameplay sets this apart-this is a turn-based game where characters take it in turns to perform actions. Each character has standard attacks, and also special manna attacks, and Klein is just special. During the game, and also in battle, Klein collects manna "essence" from rocks, to water, to lightening to grass, light and dark etc and so forth by tapping the correct action button. By finding treasure trests and also having the right manna, you can create all sorts of health and battle items-this is perhaps the life of the game as almost EVERYTHING has manna essence. Perhaps the second most brilliant feature is item creation from finding various items scattered around the store. You can make loads of food, drink, weapons etc. Next is the sound, brilliant and the voice overs are nothing short of perfection. Now, this game is initially off-putting-but give it time and you'll love it. This is not for those who loath the RPG games either, but if you love a great involving story based game-please get this. |