Our legendary speechless hero returns to slay metal babbles again.....
*be forewarned there are minor non storyline spoilers*
Graphics & sound - you have encountered a slime
Pros: the cell shaded look flows over everything virtually flawlessly. The daytime and night time rotate like a real world and i actually found myself standing on a hilltop overlooking the ocean and watching the sun set in the game because it actually looks that good. I really like the art direction of this game. The sound pretty much fits everywhere it needs to. The voice acting is pretty good for the most part.
Cons: not too many cons here, there are some palette swapped enemies and theres a black and white portion at the end of the game which i thought was a bit lame. i would have preferred an entirely new area personally.
Gameplay - You have encountered a drake
Pros: a pretty deep gameplay, like most other JRPG's it has a "mix 2 items to make a new item" system which i rather liked as you can search book shelves and random places to get recipes and hints to make new items. The battles are turn based (some might call this a con, i like it) and require some strategy even in normal non boss battles. The enemies can be pretty ruthless and try to kill you in this game. The story is a bit wacky but still good, it doesn't initially stick with the "evil supervillain tries to conquer the world" which most other rpg's go for. the voice acting is pretty decent and the characters are interesting. Exploration is definitely rewarded in this game with new items, new enemies and interesting npc's. Theres a casino where you can gamble for coins to buy items and theres even a monster training/fighting coliseum where after recruiting monsters you can fight them on teams. There are lots of hidden little areas to explore and something different around every turn.
Cons: Not many for this game. I found myself about 4 or 5 times in the game having to stop and grind for money, experience or both. I don't mind having a little grind here and there but i think i literally spent 2-3 hours each time i stopped to grind. I'm not a big fan of fighting battles for 2-3 hours just to continue the storyline a little. Some boss fights require a good long grinding beforehand to get your level and equipment to a point of survival, im not terribly fond of this. Also there are a couple parts in the game where you are required to make a long trek to a boss character with no save points in between and once you make it to the boss theres a good chance you'll get stomped because you don't know what his attack patterns are so you might get killed and have to spend another 45 minutes to trek back and kill him. not a big fan of that either (5-10 minutes ok, no prob).... lastly to reiterate.... the grinding. you will be doing it (if you dont have a cheat device) alot, i hope you don't mind grinding or the challenge associated with not grinding.
Value - You have encountered a Dragonlord
Pros: LOOOONG game with TONS of things to see, do, explore, find, kill and conquer. Tons of interesting equipment and weapons that have a myriad effects inside and outside battles. This is basically a JRPG lovers dream game.
Cons: Some enemies are a little too difficult, the grinding can get a bit old at times in the game. There will be times where you swear the game is being cheap and trying its best to kill you mercilessly.
Overall an awesome game with excellent replay value. If you don't like grinding and can use a cheat device you might have found the perfect game. In fact with a cheat device i could see an almost limitless replay value of this game. Theres even a new dungeon that opens up once you beat the game, this new dungeon is quite difficult and you will need to be very high level and adequately prepared with armor, weapons, spells and healing items to make it through to the end.