Rouge Galaxy is another great RPG from acclaimed developer Level-5, of Dark Cloud and Dragon Quest VIII fame.
User Rating: 9 | Rogue Galaxy PS2
Rouge Galaxy is another great RPG from acclaimed developer Level-5, of Dark Cloud and Dragon Quest VIII fame. While Rouge Galaxy isn't as great as I had hoped, it manages to be a fulfilling journey. You start out on a backwater desert planet, as typical RPG hero Jaster, a young man who dreams of traveling the galaxy. His ordinary life is interrupted when a giant monster attacks his hometown and he is given a legendary sword in order to defeat it. Therein, for wielding said sword, he is mistaken for the legendary Hunter known as "Desert Claw" and gets "drafted" more or less into a Space Pirate's crew. Jaster meets some interesting characters, like the ex-militant Dog-man Diego, and the caffeine-chugging, lizard-man, hacker known as Jupus. The story is rather hollow, in fact it has quit a few holes. On the other hand, most of the characters are well done, Steve the robot is like a Pinocchio wannabe, while Dog-man Diego, who is a bit of a drunkard, must stand against his old war-buddy. However, most of the characters kind of float around and don't really get much development after you get them. This is a bit upsetting, but manageable because of scenes involving those characters around the time you get them generally provide enough depth for you to get a good idea of what motivates them. The combat, while not perfect, is fairly well done. It can get repetitive; but it is flashy and relatively quick. There are no healing spells, so you have to have a good amount of Healing Items at the ready, which, luckily, are not that hard to come by. It is not the story or the combat that make this game great, it is the atmosphere. Rogue Galaxy is full of beautiful locals, such as massive hyper-tech cities, sprawling jungles, gloomy mafia-run mines, ghost-spaceships, and a world with a sky stained red. The sense of style in both the artwork and the different worlds you visit give this game an image that transcends the norm for RPGs. In that sense, it is similar to Skies of Arcadia, which was heralded for its unique lands. Rogue Galaxy captures your imagination in a way that many aspire to, but only a few seldom achieve and for that reason I whole heartily recommend it to anyone who loves to play RPGs.
