Flawless.... Absolutely flawless... This may very well be the most beautiful RPG Ive ever played. Period.
This review will be in three parts.... Story, Gameplay, Music.
-Story-
Fortunately, this game doesn't rely on past game story's at all so anyone can play this game and not get confused down the line.
The story starts off with the main Character, Adol, and his companion, Dogi, arriving on the shore of Dogi's birth land, Felghana. Adol and Dogi had traveled there to investigate the rumors of death and monsters roaming Felghana. As Adol and Dogi start traveling towards Dogi's hometown of Redmont they find a young woman being pursued by hounds, this is your first fight, you slay the beasts and save the girl. As you talk to her, she reveals that her, her brother and Dogi used to be best of friends when they were kids. She also reveals her brother has gone missing.
Now, I don't want to ruin the story for you but the story revolves around you investigating the evil of the island, which has to do with 4 statues gaurded by 4 beasts and dodging the Evil Lord McGaya who wants them as well. And while your doing this, the girls brother (Chester) whos in cahoots with McGaya, ruthlessly hunts you down for the statues, this leads to you fighting him many times.
-Gameplay-
The gameplay is standard, but amazing. Pretty much you go to town, somethings wrong, they ask you to solve the problem, you go to a dangerous Place/Dungeon/Temple, explore and fight. Now, that may seem very simple, but the story progresses immensely like this. Your main weapon in the game is swords, which can be upgraded for more power. Your main armor is body armor and shields. These can also be upgraded for more defense. You also get magic Items/weapons in the game, bracelets. These bracelets can be used anywhere in a dungeon. There are 3 ad they all posses a elemental power, fire, wind, and earth. They all are attack oriented so naturally they are really strong. They can also be used to get though obstacles. With fire, you can throw flames. You can use that to light torches.Wind lets you glide (You jump and do a sword-spin with wind carrying you), so you can use that to get to extremely far platforms. Earth lets you do a shoulder bash, this lets you break cracked walls. Your sword attach does around five fast slashes for a normal combo. As you land more and more hits, a gauge fills up which when filled lets you attach faster and do a longer combo for a short amount of time.
-Music-
My favorite soundtrack to date. I cant explain how great this soundrack is because my words just cant do it justice. There are a medley of rock tracks as well as soft violin and such. The best track in the game is Valenstien Castle theme. I cant play through it without putting down my contoller, closing my eyes and listening... Its that amazing.
Overall, this game is a masterpiece and if you love RPGs, it is your obligation to play this game.