Aedis Eclipse: Generation of Chaos for PSP Reviews by Gamers

Last year, Idea Factory and NIS America released Generations of Chaos, a tactical RPG with massive battles, lots of flexibility and deep strategy. However, the clunky interface, limited helpful information and somewhat weak battle implementation of battlefield control hampered the potential of the game, making it a niche title for hardcore strategy fans. A year later, the second game in the series has made its way to our shores in the form of Aedis Eclipse: Generations of Chaos. But has this sequel learned from the mistakes of its predecessor? Only slightly, with three separate storylines as the most prominent change. The overall package, however, is pretty close to the first one.



The initial tale behind Aedis Eclipse is one that's ripped from any stereotypical RPG, with a mystical order of light attempting to hold back the darkness that's constantly growing stronger and threatening to cast the world into shadow. The twist with Aedis Eclipse is that the world is actually fractured into three separate realms connected by a spire known as the Otherworld Tower. There's a Divine World, which is an island in the sky populated with angels and demons, the Surface World with knights and wizards and the steampunk influenced Lower World under the earth. Players can choose to take on any one of the three worlds (the Lower World being the easiest and the Divine World being the hardest) in any order they choose, but the initial peace of each land is shattered with conflict between kingdoms.



Like any other tactical situation, Aedis Eclipse emphasizes a three-pronged strategy for success: battle preparation, knowledge and mastery of your environment, and sound battlefield strategy. The first part, battle preparation, revolves around making your captains much more effective in combat situations. Part of this can be acquired by going to shops and purchasing the items or abilities they need so they can shrug off attacks or inflict heavier damage. Another aspect of this is based around partnering them with another captain, who can provide a secondary support role in battle, effectively doubling the power of your primary general. Players can also change the classes of certain captains to make them better fighters or raise their experience levels with bonus points to make them stronger.



This is important, because the environments that they'll find themselves in won't always be friendly to your forces. Apart from neutral areas on the field map, players will have to contend with varying heights of terrain, roads that force them to go in specific directions or even elemental tiles that can weaken the effectiveness of an army in battle. Fortunately, there are a few ways to overcome these hazards, like terraforming land into areas that are stronger for your troops or building various bases and installations that will increase your attack power or the number of troops recruited to your side after each turn. While the defensive plans won't guarantee success, every step will help your forces repel the various attacks that are launched against them.



Speaking of battles, combat takes place between a captain, their front and rear guard soldiers and their partners (if they have any). Players establish an initial formation for their troops from one of eight different configurations, and then fight until one side's captain has been defeated. A player can hasten their enemy's demise by triggering various skills and special attacks, which often inflict area damage or specialized strikes upon a target. If the player happens to defeat the opposing captain, they'll wind up with a variety of spoils, such as money, experience points, and even foot soldiers that can be added to their army. Sometimes, the opposing leader can be taken prisoner, which provides the opportunity to convert the warrior to your side, release them on their way, or executing them for daring to fight against your troops.



As you can see, there's a large amount of details crammed into Aedis Eclipse, way more than can be covered in a review with any level of justice. What's more, players have a certain level of customization in how they want to play the game. But this is seriously hampered by similar problems that screwed up the first title. The menu system which was a problem in the first title is just as complex and complicated in this title. Text is rather small in some menus, and the way it's arranged can easily overload your senses as you try to figure out just what details you need at any particular point. Manipulating these menus isn't very easy either -- for instance, while I managed to acquire at least two dozen different soldier types for my armies, trying to find out how to substitute these grunts was an exercise in frustration.



While it's important to note that there is a tutorial in Aedis Eclipse, if you're looking for help either within it or the manual, you're literally grasping at straws, because it's poorly defined there. The information you'll find is extremely general, and while it provides a basic hint about what some game elements are, it doesn't really give you the information you need to successfully accomplish certain tasks, or why some game elements are implemented in certain ways. This isn't so much a learning curve as it is a cliff, and you'd expect that this would've been corrected for a sequel. For example, players can construct graveyards, which will infect your troops with disease and poison as well as forcing you into battle. Is this supposed to be a defensive maneuver or a training mechanic to get your troops leveled up by facing adversity? It's never explained, nor is it demonstrated how it might work, so that forces a large amount of trial and error upon the player to discover whether or not it's even worth the trouble of constructing the deadly "building." In fact, trial and error is one of those things that you're going to run into, especially with a number of random effects that wind up providing anything from extra turns for the enemy to status boosts for both sides. You'll never know what you're going to run into until it happens, and at that point, it's practically too late.



The same can pretty much be said about battle, which often degenerates into a sloppy mess of less than tactically organized troops as soon as your forces have engaged the front line of a formation. But even worse, the soldiers on both sides will attack at random intervals, which can be completely frustrating. Nothing says boring combat like 2D sprites that are essentially marching in place without attacking something right in front of them. Since your only interaction in battle sequences is via your captain, and that's simply issuing blanket orders of movement, formation rearrangement or skill usage, you're not actually doing that much. In fact, you can basically start a battle and let the AI fight itself without controlling anything, and you'll win at least half the time, which isn't engaging. It's just unfortunate that battle is such a major part of the game that it's ultimately underwhelming.



Even stranger are some of the little quirks attached to battle. For instance, one of the largest ways to bolster your forces is by capturing enemy captains. Unfortunately, most of the ones that are worth having are so resistant to your coercive attempts to bring them over to your side that you'll rarely get them. The only way, of course, to boost the stats that affect your persuasion of enemy troops is to gain levels, which presents two problems: it takes vital points away from other stats you need to raise, like your attack or defensive stats, and it also increases the strength of enemy troops you'll face proportionally. This is regardless of whether you perform this during the linear quest or continually repeat defeated sections of the game as you power level. It sucks to try to make your troops able to convert captains at the cost of making them so weak that they won't be able to defeat them in battle anyway.



While Aedis Eclipse maintains a similar art style with the 2D sprites and iconography from Generation of Chaos, a lot of the environments are much cleaner this time around. It's much easier to determine what areas you're traveling through, such as forests and grasslands, without the blurry, almost generic landscapes of the first title. The game also manages to show off a large number of particle effects and impressive animation whenever a special attack is triggered. Sound effects and music are decent, but nothing outstanding, and while the English voice acting ranges from decent to forgettable, at least players have the option to turn on the original Japanese voice track.

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