Ok....so I've changed my tune. This game is like a kid....put enough time into and it'll repay you amply!
Anything you've heard about this game up until now, can ONLY be understood and decided upon by you, the gamer, cause many people love and a few people hate, this game
As far as RPGs go, this game could have had a FAR better hold on things....I say that, but at the same time, when you've put enough time into what GS calls a dungeon crawler, you see and find out there are a lot more aspects that surround this game.
Here's a quick synopsis on how it starts and where you'll spend ALL of your time. You sail to a town....the town has a tower in the center of it...the town in unexplicably HUGE...you won't be able to leave the town, and at first this will seem saddening and annoying, but after a while, you'll get used to it. The tower is home to many different types of monsters...and it's your mission of collect and find different monsters and monster eggs. It's typical of RPGs to be played on a huge scale and map, but with all the different levels of the tower you'll fight through, you'll have PLENTY of maps and discovery time.
Now, first things first. You do use the stylus - touch pad for EVERYTHING, you select weapons, inventory items, shopping, selling, upgrading, searching, using magic, attacking, defending....every part of this game that requires you to select from a list, requires you to do so with the stylus. You can scroll through conversations with the "A" button and you are able to run with the D-pad while toggling your "RUN" on and off with the "Y" button. Those are truthfully the only things you are able to acomplish without the use of the stylus - touchpad. Now, I'd say this is a downfall and something to dock points off of the game, yet after palying for over 50+ hours, you really do become used to it and it's almost second nature after the 3rd level of the tower.
There is one thing about the game that does bother me and will ALWAYS bother me, and that is the fact that even though this is a "semi-real time...semi-stratagey based....semi-turn based battle system" you are unable to control your AI partners AT ALL....they do just fine when attacking your opponant, but it just seems like the designers could have made it a bit deeper and better when taking in the grand scheme of things. Still after you've put time into the game, even the battle system become second nature. It's a little game bogging, yet at the same time they didn't OVER produce enemies so that you'd despise every level of the tower you start into.
Once you understand how it works and how to utilize your companions, the battle system becomes fun and intriguing...you can cast spells or just select "strike" to hit your enemy with your selected weapon.
Casting spells is accomplished by drawing the specific spell design with your stylus...and the game is "...forgiving" (as GS so delicately put it) when it comes to messing up on EXACT spells drawing. It is a very good, if not a totally expected way of using the touch pad when playing magic-driven RPGs. But in that realm of things, it does a good job. (Oh, and might I just add that the spell graphics are AWESOME the higher you go!)
There are a few mysteries to this game and some of them will annoy most avid RPGers, but they aren't detremental to the game itself, or it's gameplay.
One of them, is a lack of a quick save option, so you HAVE to leave whatever level of the tower you are on to save, and saving is a little cumbersome and tedious. Or...since it is the DS, closing the screen does in fact put it in sleep mode, so there is that option if you just need a break. Another mystery, is the extreme lack of information on what to do next when taking on a particular sub-plot quest. You basically have to play it by ear and hope you remember the little things that are said. (All of the important side quests are actually "In-story" and get accomplished whether you intend for them to or not).
Other than that, the storyline is good...it's not anything spectacular, but it is good, and with all the little sub-plot add-ins and "in-story" side-quests that you go on, you end up having a goal to keep you motivated through-out the whole game. Plus there is the townspeople that you can give items to and find ways of becoming friends with them...
The two BIGGEST, and I mean THE TWO BIGGEST, down fall of this game, and the one thing that will probably hurt the most when looking at this game from a reviewer's-bird's-eye-view, is the EXP system and the Weapons system. You can upgrade weapons and shields and staves as in all RPGs, and you are always looking for and searching for the "ULTIMATE" weapon, but even with the upgrades, you aren't able to SEE what the actual weapon does to your stats, so you just go off of item description and which item appeals to you inparticular (a very good way to decide on what weapon to use is to look at the price, and/or sale price of said item..the more expensive, the better). I honestly think the EXP system got lost in the cracks all together, because you don't know how much EXP you have left to level up, and even when you do level up you don't see which stats go up. This is all, however, counter balanced by the fact that ALL stats and weapon upgrades have a ceiling. (I won't divulge the upgrade or stat ceiling...if you'd like those check the forum....otherwise, you can find those for yourself)
Gameplay: It is smooth...not AS smooth as is required of most RPGs, but it does the job and it does it well enough. The storyline is interesting enough to keep you tethered through-out the entire game, and all the little monster evolutions and side-quests will have you coming back for more.
The dungeon play is a bit slow and a one square at a time thing, but you can run through the dungeons by holding down the "Y" button, and there are plenty of little puzzles for you to figure out in every dungeon floor.
Graphics: Graphics are GREAT and they are smooth and there is not any choppiness, unless you are trying to run through a dungeon floor with lots of pick-up items laying around.
Sound: I've never been a real big fan of of Handheld soundtracking, and even in this one, I'm not a BIG fan, but they did better than I initially expected...I don't have much to say on this.
All Around Enjoyment: This is a very fulfilling game...it's not as deep as most RPGs, like I said, but it does have a niche that it found, and it is extremely fun and it will appeal to many different gamers for its many different aspects of play. 1)There is the monster arena and monster raising part of the game where you can evolve certain monsters and get them to become your "favorite" side-kicks. 2) There is the RPG aspect of the game where you're finding and buying weapons, obtaining EXP, and in so doing, learning newer and more powerful spells, and conquoring side-quests and vanquishing monsters and bosses. 3) There is the adventure aspect that will keep you pushing to finish the mission, to save your family and your town, along with helping out the towns people with all their own personal dilemas.
Ok, there.
That is all I can think of to explain to you how this game is.
In conclusion, it is an extremely enjoyable game. It was an ambitious step for Konami, and I think they pulled it off. It isn't the BEST RPG in the world, but it is not the worst by any means. In fact, I have to say of the DS, it is one of the better games on the market...and is probably going to become one of the sleepers that should have been great!