Definetly one of the better, if not, the best rpg that has come out for the gba.
The story, to put it blandly, the main character has amnesia, meets with some party members, goes to do a simple task, meets with more party members, discovers the truth about himself, and finally saves the world. That should cover the general outline of the game, actually that's the general outline of most rpg games. Well some things will revealed later.
The graphics look fantastic for a gba game (I've never expected much of gba graphics). All the characters are so detailed that not only you can tell them apart, but also they are pretty to look at and are not boring. Samething with the enviroments. Only issue with the enviroments are that most of the time they reapeat even though you go to a different area so it can get boring being in the same looking area again. There are weapons in this game and yes they all have thier own look and effect. There are even times the characters act, well, anime like in which you'll ofter see the nervous drop of water behind thier head. The sound I'll say right off the bat is okay. I can't really describe it well, but it ain't painful to listen to beacuase you'll be too busy playing the game. Still it sounds alright, but it won't catch your attention.
Playing a rpg has probably gotten so simple that there's no point in trying. Well that's kind of true with Riviera. Unlike other games where you lose agaisnt an enemy and have to start over again. In Riviera, you do have to start over and fight the enemy again, just that the next time around the enemy will be weaker with a lower bar of health. So everytime you lose the enemy will become weaker everytime. Easy? You bet. Does this take the challenge out of the game? Unfortunatley yes, but only because some bosses are insanely stronger that there is just no other way. Don't mind this strategy in this game, because all everyone wants is to play the game, have fun, and enjoy the story.
Like all rpgs the only way for the characters to become stronger is train. And most of the time in order to train you have to go out your way to find some random monster and fight it. That's not the case with this game. There is actually a practice option given at anytime of the game (except during actually fights) where you can fought previouly fought monsters to gain experience. Now to the making characters stronger part, it's qiute different from average rpgs. The only way to make the character stronger is ot level your weapon, yeah werid hhuh, well that's just how thry made it. The procedure is simple, just use a weapon that has empty blocks below it's name (Mastery of the weapon) and use it until you have mastered it. Everytime a weapon is mastered for a certain character then that perosn will become stronger by being rewarded in an increase in thier status. So it's best for every unmastered weapon to be mastered before having to fight an enemy which must be fought.
Along with every weapon is the use of a special move, all characters have a special move with most weapons especially thier corresponding weapons. Special moves vary depending on what type of weapon they are using.
What I find special about Riviera is that the main character is a guy who is surrounded by girls. How cliched (done before). The main charcter does not chase after the girls, only beacuse he's one of those gentlemanly type of people. Anyway, the rest of the party is made of girls and you can get them to like you. By selecting a certain response during a conversations will affect how that charcter will like you. I thought this was a cute add in to the rpg world because sometimes there would be so many girl characters, but you would never come in contact with them. Also this will affect the ending. Each person in the party have thier own ending with the main charcter. To get that ending all you have to do is get that character to like you the most. Simple? Yes.
Even as simple as this game is, it's quite lengthy and so it won't be a waste ot buy. I recommed this game for those who want an easy going game where they can always progress and never be stuck. Mostly for beginners who are fresh to rpgs, but i doubt there are any so for those who just want a fun game.