Story:
I didn't really pay much attention to the story because it was so boring. Ultimately it boils down to saving the world from this ancient evil known as the "Old One".
There's five different worlds to explore and each world has it's own mini story. For example, the Boletarian Palace stage focuses on the Prince who's fighting through hordes of enemies to save his father the King.
The in stage story segments are really just light dialogues with characters in the world.
The story felt weak. I never really felt any urgency of impending danger, also I felt like the only stage that had ties to the story was the Boletarian Palace and even then there wasn't much material presented.
The story starts off interesting enough and then just sits idly on the back burner as you fight through all 5 worlds. The story was so shallow that I forgot there even was a story as I was fighting my way through each stage. The ending felt shoehorned and the "final battle" (if you can even call it a battle) was a major disappointment... there was no climax, no sense of accomplishment, nothing....
Result - 4/10
Visuals:
They get the job done. There's nothing really amazing here. The character models look ok. The enemy types look a little better. The environments are nice, but overall the look is fairly bland when compared to other PS3 games out there.
Results - 6.5/10
Gameplay:
Here's the meat & potatoes of the game. The gameplay is fast paced hack & slash action. You create your own character and give them a specific character class type like Magician, Soldier, Thief. You run around attacking enemies with either a melee weapon, magic, items or bow & arrows. Your attacks drain stamina from your gauge. Also wearing various types of armor + weaponry puts stress on your stamina gauge, making it harder to: recover stamina, dodge attacks, perform attacks and use items.
This game can be very brutal at times. The basic enemies do a large amount of damage per attack. So a simple zombie could kill you in 1-2 hits. When you die you turn into soul form and have to start the level all over again with half of your HP and all of your hard earned soul (read currency) lost. The spot where you died leaves a "bloodstain" that leaves 2 things, a message you make for other adventures to read and all the souls you collected before you died.
The reason the game can be brutal is that unless you really know how to play the game (and even if your good), you're probably going to die a lot and be forced to replay the same level X amount of times, over and over and OVER again until you "escape" plow through a level, kill the boss and use the warp stone there. Also every time you restart the level, ALL THE ENEMIES you killed or ran away from ALSO RETURN...
This game can be a true test of patience and determination for players. If you can't stand dying a million "cheap" deaths and restarting the level AGAIN for the millionth time, then you probably shouldn't play this game. If you can deal with this "challenge" or are good at playing this game then you'll be in for a treat because this is a very fun game to play. It's always fun to gather souls and materials to level up your characters stats, make new weapons and upgrade your existing weapons/armor.
Result - 9/10
Voice-acting:
The voice acting is nice. I love the European accents for the characters, it's gives them depth and character that fits into the medieval setting.
Result - 8/10
Extras/Replay:
This is the typical new game+ many jrpgs have where things certain things are carried over to a new game. Each subsequent play-though gets harder to play as the enemies get stronger. You have to play through a few times to get all of the trophies. One trophy in particular requires 3 play-throughs to achieve I believe
The gameplay is so fun that playing again is a must if you love playing this game.
Result - 9/10
Overall: 7/10
Overall, the game revolves around it's excellent gameplay. Everything else is mediocre, but the combat made me play all the way through the game from start to finish which saying something coming from a fickle gamer like me
Personally, I thought this game wasn't as hard as most people say. Actually I thought it was too easy. I plowed through the game in 12 hours with minimal armor, a basic level 3 spear and low soul level. It was easy for me because I was good at reading the attack animations of the enemies.
Also I killed 3 of the bosses without taking a single hit....
I only had trouble with 1 boss (flame demon from level 2)Anyways, this game is very fun to play and rewarding for hardcore gamers who take up the challenge
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