First of all, I have to say that this is, in my opinion, a very pretty game, with game play very much reminiscent of Guardian Heroes on the Sega Saturn (which I loved, once upon a time). The graphics engine is supposed to be reminiscent of a storybook, and pulls it off beautifully. It has simple yet deep game mechanics that make it very approachable, yet always challenging, and, ultimately, addicting. However, as with many RPGs (or games with RPG elements), leveling-up very easily becomes tiresome "busy-work", and, while the map system is novel and fun, it becomes extremely tedious in the leveling-up process. The game has a very clever character upgrade process, but it becomes overly complex for a game that, to me, feels weighted more to its Final Fight roots than its RPG roots. Ultimately, the leveling-up system wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the load times... loading each section of a map is actually pretty quick and unobtrusive during linear game play, but repeat it over and over as you try to get to the store to sell your items(because your inventory maxes out quickly) and it gets very annoying. Getting to the restaurant where you can really level up, takes even longer. All-in-all, it's a terribly fun and addictive game, but, for better or worse, it sucks up hours of time like an insane Hoover.
Pros:
- Gorgeous graphics engine
- Very fun & approachable game play
- Old-school "circular" levels are fun!
- Interesting story
- Good (and thorough) Japanese and English voice acting (you can select either)
- Interesting characters
- Well made
Cons:
- Long and/or frequent loading
- Somewhat tedious level-up system
- Controls can feel sluggish at times in brawls
- Slow-down with a lot of things happening on screen during battles (infrequent)
- Traversing between particular locales is cumbersome
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