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Seems good so far, no point trying to give an opinion yet cause I haven't played long enough so I'll put up my views in a few hours or so.
Seems good so far, no point trying to give an opinion yet cause I haven't played long enough so I'll put up my views in a few hours or so.
ToS opens with some dramatic cutscenes and landscape shots accompanied by some dynamic orchestral music, very similar to the sequence you get in Skies of Arcadia if you leave it long enough. The title screen pans across a beautiful background of a tree and some water, while some flashing text helpfully reminds you which disc you have inserted - there are two possible combinations for this; DISC 1 and DISC 2, it is not possible to have both appear together.
It also displays the three selectable options, the last of which, 'Customize', allows you to change all manner of things about the game, including difficulty and window colours. Along with the pretty background art, large logo and serene yet expectant musical score, this title screen really makes you want to click that 'New Game' selection, unless you've already started, in which case you probably want to select 'Continue' instead.
Overall I give this title screen a 7 or maybe 8 out of 10.
Umm...
> while some flashing text helpfully reminds you which disc you
> have inserted - there are two possible combinations for this; DISC 1
> and DISC 2, it is not possible to have both appear together.
:)
This is definately on my "to-get" list, but I just don't want to import it as I have no time for games at the moment anyway. Shall wait for the European release methinks, but it's animé style graphics, huge orchestral scores, an epic looking story and a huge amount of play time make this RPG a must-buy for me - a gamer starved of his RPGs since he completed Skies 100% quite a few months ago..
This game is hard, the combat is hard, mashing attack won't get you that far. It's also more complex than it looks, so you should really read the manual first, which I still haven't done (explaining my poor performance). I won't bother explaing the grading system, titles, ultimate, EX gems etc - firstly because you'll pick that up yourself, but mainly because I haven't got a clue how it all works myself yet.
The graphics are excellent, characters well stylised, locations well drawn, animation fluid and smooth. A small critiscm would be the 'Resident Evil Effect', the characters appear to float over the backdrop. While this isn't the case of pre-rendered backgrounds, the characters are far more bold and vibrant than the world around them, giving the appearance that they're on a different 'plane' to everything else. The sound is good, lots of speech and the voice acting is very good. Don't worry about the slightly tinny effect in the opening cutscene, it vanishes when you start the game proper. The large world map is pretty sparse graphics wise, but its not that important. There are also no Nintendo frustration moments, like on Zelda when it stops you for five minutes to say "OMG UR AT A DOOR!!1! PRESS TEH ACIONT BUTTUN WHEN IT SAYS OPEN TO OPEN TEH DOOR!! THE ACITN BUTTUNIS TEH RELLY BIG 1 ON TEH CONTROLLER!!! TEH CONTOL0R IS TE THING WAT IZ PLUGED IN2 TEH GAMECUBE!! TEH GAMECUBE IS TEH THING WAT IZ PLUGED IN2 UR TV THING!1!! U SHLD PRACTICE OPENING DOORS FOR 5 MINS BEFORE U CONTINUE!!!!!!!!!"
Any tutorials there are totally optional.
The combat is good and bad. Unlike my preference (and therefore inferior) most people here don't like turn based combat, so good news for you. It reminds me a bit of Grandia II on the Dreamcast. The downside is you're other party members are left to the AI, which isn't all bad (currently performing better than me anyway) but is still annoying when you're like me and want complete control over everyone.
Unfortunatly the main female character is under-developed - flat chested, nothing on show. There is no Fina here :( I give her 5 out of 10 because she still sounds like she's the village bicycle.
Bonus points are awarded as the main enemies so far are evil half-elves.
Bored now: story appears to be very good and uh..anything else I haven't mentioned must be good because I can't think of anything bad about the game yet.
After an hour and 30 minutes:
Mysterious badasses: 3
Spankings: 1
Acts of brutality: 5
Pillagings: 1
Slave labour: 1
Swearing: 1
Bondage Monsters: 1
Weepy moments: 1 (up to 3 depending on your sissy rating)
Random explosions for the sake of big explosions: 1
Possible gang rapings: 1
Sexual tension: About 10 minutes worth
Homo-erotic moments: At least 1
Other stuff: About 46
I will attempt to answer any questions about ToS.
If you liked Skies of Arcadia but hated the battle system, then you should love ToS.
Basically unless you hate RPGs, if you own a GC you should get this game.
It feels like Skies crossed with Golden Sun, with a battle system that's a cross between Chrono Trigger and Grandia II.
It's a must own by Christmas I reckon.
a must have for all RPG lovers especialy the ones that loved Skies.
The dark side of this game is very pleasing; evil half-elves enslaving and breeding puny humans in 'Human Ranches', mutating them into hideous monsters, excessivily lashing frail old women = excellent.