We need more games like this! A Must Have!!!
This game is an essential to not only active DS players, but FF fans. This game uses semi-revolutionary controls on this simple hand held to make a simplistic, but still tactic biased game.
Game-Play: 9.5
Sound: 7
Graphics: 9.5
Replay: 9.5
Synopsis: This is shortly after the FFXII game where Vaan and Penelo seek out to be pirates on their own. The story opens up with Balthazier appointing you as a pirate after a short verbal trial. You then take flight and land on a floating isle where your story quickly unfolds and though the story isn't very magnified as it usually is in the FF series, it still takes hold of you if you pay attention. Otherwise you can still be addicted almost instantly to the very unique system.
Game-Play: The game-play is exponential when you look at it from all angles. The DS to me has taken games to another level. Where PSP is a simple carbon copy of handhelds with the additive basic technology, DS has let us use more than we thought we could and this game truly shows its colors.
Your stylus becomes your omnipotent hand of command over your [Leaders] and [Espers]. Before every battle [Which there're plenty of] you choose which leaders you desire to command for a maximum of five. Then you may choose up to five different classes of Espers. You gain certain upgrades to these espers which I will come to shortly. For now I will focus on the Stylus.
With the Stylus you drag and tap commands along varied battlefields which are littered with different enemies and at times NPC allies. The game teaches you at a paced learning curve that anyone can catch up to. Where in the beginning you only command four leaders and no espers to gain the basic controls of commanding movement and attacking, and then the use of special moves and gambits.
Unlike many tactical dungeon crawlers this game is very involved where your Leaders are controlled by you, but also act defensively. There is a very short stick Aggro system also where you can actually use your ranged attackers to 'pull' certain 'mobs' to enter your army's kill zone.
About 25% into the game you will have access to multiple leveled espers and have an assortment of predetermined tactics. It was at this point I was getting either bored or angry. Bored at the same espers and tactics and the fact the story didn't really unfold much, and angry because the stylus' drag and drop methods were becoming haphazard on my part, but I am sure you will sequence curses when you are attempting to esuna a group, but you can't find the right person in the mobs to do it to, or if you begin fumbling and send your ranged fighters into close combat.
All is not lost, not for me anyways, as I quickly rebounded and new abilities, items, and craftings were added to the game and I was quickly re-immersed with new tactics and attitude towards the game. So on that, new buffs, weapons, and espers will drag you back into the game and let you test some new tactics out.
Now on the Espers. Unlike our beloved Espers in XII and III, the common esper is a drone for catching your bullets and dealing basic DPS while your Leaders extract the most damage with heavy hitting attacks. However, for every element [5 total] there're at least two 'Real Espers' for them. For example. Water/Ice elements have Shiva and Leviathan. You get these guys depending on how well you spend your crystals on the Ring of Pacts. These big boss espers are as good as you, sometimes better. I have used them to take on entire mobs by themselves.
Espers are unlocked through the ring of pacts which will remind you of the Ring leveling in FFX. You spend the crystals on new branches of the ring and they unlock other spots on the ring. Usually they follow stance to the branch of the element you are spending on. So spending a lot of points on Fire espers will get you to Ifrit and Belios quick, but most people spread their points amongst more than one element.
There're three levels to every esper element, number three being the big boss espers like Titan or Bahamut. The level two espers often have gambits themselves where they will expend super moves whenever they're cooled down. And your level ones merely clutter up the field to catch hits.
Needless to say the espers are in their own right a large bit of the game. On top of picking out espers you can also create your own weapons by collecting materials that you can harvest on the field and turn them into Cu Sith who will then ask you questions based on the weapon and he will make it and every time the weapon will come out different.
Ok, now finally. The game is an RTS so many ask, how do you get resources to build? Well you have things called summoning gates. Depending on your level and how many gates you have captured is how many 'points' you have to spend. The points don't shift high or low otherwise. You then summon espers who cost a certain amount of points and in a few seconds they will appear and enter whatever leader squad you assigned them. If you dislike your units, you can dismiss them to gain back your points and then purchase another assortment of warriors.
This game is fun. Period. The story is pretty decent, the battle field is like Tactics, but RTS, and the side quests are prominent and most are not hidden so you can actually just go directly to it. You can go to any place you already have completed and do repeatable quests like 'Monster Hunt' or 'Pirate Battle' which are common ones and each have different monsters and circumstances.
Sound: The sound is such a low score because I didn't like the fact their was now voice what so ever. The music is low tone, but any avid FF midi fan will notice and enjoy it. The combat effects are repetitive and seem to never stop. The sound is nothing to note or even say much about. If they at least put voices in the cut scenes I would have been satisfied.
Visuals: The visuals are amazing for the DS. The cutscenes although far between one another, look amazing. They cross in to both screens and have a pixilated CG coat to them. In game graphics are great and look exactly like Tactics, the camera views and effects are great for explaining the simple emotions the sprites are exuming.
Replay: I cannot stop playing this game. It gets boring after a few hours straight, but what doesn't? I packed four hours in one sitting without noticing. You will play this after you beat it just to see how you can run it differently and or jump back into the fray using Titan or Belios.
Conclusion: This game is a must have for FF fans, RTS fans, and Tactics fans. If you're not big on those then you can probably pass this game up, but the experience of this rumored use of touch screen RTS is very relieving to the technological soul. The game play always keeps you on your toes and the graphics are just so appealing. Get this game, it's cheaper than what its worth!