Remember the first Magna Carta? This game is nothing like that. And that's a good thing.
Story: 7
The story aspect of many Japanese role playing games have become virtually predictable, and MagnaCarta 2 is no exception. Juto is the teenager hero of the game, who happens to have no recollection of his past, and at the onset of the game, we find him cooped up in a small-time, undeveloped island. Soon enough, the story reveals that Juto has a strange power inside of him that upon activation, not only grants him battle prowess, but helps him slowly regain his lost memories. Among Juto's quest to find out his true identity, he becomes wrapped up in a political struggle against a tactician who has usurped the throne by assassinating the queen. Juto soon meets Princess Zephie, who is leading a resistance against the usurper, and the story takes off from there.
MagnaCarta II goes about storytelling in a unique way, somwhat akin to other rpgs and games (i.e., Blazblue: Calamity Trigger) that simply show two character portraits on screen, talking to one another via dialogue. However, the game does have its fair share of great cutscenes, powered by the Unreal Engine. Outside of your typical rpg plot twists, the story of this game is riveting in it's own right, and for someone who is looking for a standard japanese rpg story, MagnaCarta II delivers.
The characters all have their own unique personalities and are designed well. Rather than the story helping to shape the characters, its more of the characters helping to bring along the story.
Graphics / Design: 7.5
The graphics are nothing to rave about, but they are not terrible by any means. Your best bet would be to check out screenshots and trailers and judge them yourself. However, when comparing it to games in the same generation, MagnaCarta 2 gets the job done with great character designs and beautiful scenery, although the background does get blurry here and there. Most of the field that you'll be crawling around during gameplay is nice, but nothing spectacular. However, some of the environments are awkward, in a sense that you believe that you should be able to walk over a small ledge, only to find yourself having to go around the long way because your character can't step over it.
Gameplay: 7.5
The battle system of MagnaCarta 2 is interesting, to say the very least. Everything happens in real time, as there are no transitions when encountering monsters in battle. Anyone familiar with Final Fantasy XII will be familiar with the way MagnaCarta 2 deals with encountering. As far as the actual battle goes, you have your standard normal attacks (by pressing the A button), your skill set (by pressing the X button) and a special attack (by pressing the B button when prompted). The battles play a bit like the "Tales of" series, where you are only able to control one character at a time and you're stringing together normal attacks, and at the end, you unleash a skill attack or your special attack. The new feature this game includes is a stamina bar, where, every time you attack, it fills up a bit until it reaches an Overdrive state. In this state, all attacks you do is increased in damage by 1.5x. However, immediately after the Overdrive state, you're character enters an Overheat state, where the character you are controlling is unable to do anything for a few seconds. As you gain more party members, you are able to immediately switch to another character (by using the D-pad) once you enter an Overheat state and doing so, creates a Chain State where the second character is able to do more damage. There are a few techniques and tricks to avoid the Overheat state that the game introduces, and are vital when fighting the tougher opponents. One of the things that might take some time getting used to is the way the screen does a split/switch kind of thing when you do change which character you are controlling. This would be better experienced by watching gameplay video.
As you level up your character, you're able to expend points on building a character's skill tree, enabling them to learn new skills and techniques. Each character has two different kinds of weapons they may be able to wield (ex. Juto can wield either a one handed sword or a two handed sword) and each weapon type has their own skill tree to discover and enhance. In addition, there are numerous of different side quests to take part in, a lot of them giving you loads of experience points and unique items that you are able to equip onto your character.
As far as "level grinding" is concerned, there never really is a time where extensive grinding is required in order to defeat a boss. As long as you battle enough enemies along the way as you plunge through the plot and complete your fair share of side quests, you shouldn't have to expend much of your play time in that department.
Sound: 8
The sound in this game is a welcome addition. Meaning that, it really helps bring out the best the game has. The voice acting -- for a japanese rpg dubbing -- is done rather well, with the actors giving emotion (albeit, sometimes too much emotion) to the proper lines and scenes when required. The lip syncing is done rather well and most of the dialogue is voiced, and with the exception of maybe a few characters, you'll be able to tolerate them all. The BGM is nothing memorable, but it does include a few tracks here and there that you'll find yourself humming to in your mind. At the very least, the English voices will not make you cringe.
In conclusion, MagnaCarta 2 definitely is a big improvement on its predecessor and a welcome addition the the Xbox 360 rpg library -- a library that was craving its next big eastern rpg since Tales of Vesperia was released last summer. If you're looking for a Japanese (or, I really should be saying korean) rpg that includes all the standard stuff, a main character that isn't too annoying, and a great supporting cast the helps string the story along, MagnaCarta 2 is definitely a game you'll want to check out.