Wow I went about hyping this game expecting it to be a last gem of the PS2...I was wrong I admit it.
First, this game has no storyline! Sorry but Im a firm believer in the fact that an RPG is made by the storyline alone. You are constantly reincarnated into a chaotic post cataclysm world where you basically try to get all the other NPC's to off themselves is what it adds up to. You get a short cut scene here and there when you come across some "important" storyline character and thats about it. You fight rather haphazardly through about 10-12 levels then run through 4 more because you just can't seem to level up quite right in this game and then you free the Archangel...Whoa wait omg not again...yes then you start the whole thing over again...wow its like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day seriously come on give me something a little more appreciable I just fought through a huge freaking horde of monsters with no means of defense just to do it all over again? Sadly because the game is in a dark setting the graphics are quite bad as well. You can see about the equivalent of 10 feet in front of you and as soon as you take a step forward almost always there is a monster waiting in the shadows edge. The fighting is terrible, you have no means of defending, unless you classify sidestepping a means of defense...you have a sword and you have a gun...oh yes an "angelic rifle" only reason its angelic is because it has 5 shots that are going ot save you five times from almost nearly dying only to use another shot in the next room and then die again. Yeah its fun for a while, Yeah I did try completeing the item list ( the true point of the game?) But after about 5 hours you are goign to realize this game is going nowhere. You collect souls which you then give to another NPC, but it really doesn't add up to the fact taht you can send 3 of em back if you're lucky each time before you die...and thats even if the 3 chaos spheres even show up in that run through. then its the fact taht you have to get those souls (barouqes) to even be dropped by their respective NPC. Oh and if you're lucky enough you get a Crystal sword which absorbs one...I repeat one baroque for its special ability...(I played for 15 hours and never even saw a Crystal Sword) The music I'd say was at least decent and the characters in general were pretty cool but its just way to open ended and unless you're some gaming genious and have the patience of a parent with seven sets of twins you are not going to enojy this game. I'm all for dungeon crawlers don't get me wrong, the old D&D games on SNES and such were great and I enjoyed dying only to try and get one room deeper...but even Baroque destroys the simplicity of it all by leaving no connectors between the gameplay and the story. Im sorry when I can go play something like Odin Sphere or Stella Deus or any Shin Megami Tensei game (all games worthy of Atlus praise) why am I going to waste my time on this piece of junk?