I want to get it, but the pricing of the game seems odd to me. To clearify, most games that are released on ps3 and vita at the same time tend to be cheaper on the Vita but with this game the price is the same on
both consoles.
What is it that you like with the game, I find it an interesting design choice to let the player re-spec before each mission. Can you give me a practical example of how this is used in the game. How much of a difference does new equipment make, is there a limit of the size of your party for each mission?
Well, it's a new gen so it's $60 on ps4 and $40 on ps3/vita. I wouldn't let that affect your decision anyway, though. Imo Natural Doctrine is definitely a 'full' game, as worthy of my $40 as, say, Demon Gaze was.
You've got a couple questions in there:
1) What I like is that it's a truly tactical game. A lot of SRPGs don't actually have all that much strategy. For example, as much as I like Jeanne D'arc, it's pretty easy and standard. Lots of others are easily breakable -- FFTactics, for example, you can grind your characters into gods... and even if you don't, it's hard to keep your challenge level right because you're often either too weak (grind) or too powerful (easy). This game doesn't really suffer from that in the same way. The game requires tactics, the game requires you understand and use the combat system not only to attack your enemies, but to defend against them.
This requires a combination of understanding your special moves, understanding range, movement, etc, understanding how to chain/link your moves for best effect, while never leaving yourself over extended. And of course, there's a bit of luck thrown in since you can always miss a key swing (though it provides all necessary info, such as your chance to hit, before you commit).
It's tactical in a way I always wished Valkyria Chronicles was... but that game (as much as I loved it) was crippled by a terrible scoring system that valued speed over all else, so you ended up doing ridiculous things to beat a key enemy 'fast' (usually with all scouts). I wanted something that valued actual tactics -- a game that recognized minimizing team damage against terrifying odds requires more skill than running one character across a battlefield to get a lucky shot in against an enemy captain. This game would kill that stupid scout and eat it for breakfast.
You open a door, and you see, say, a multilevel area in front of you, with 15 enemies strewn throughout the zones. You need to approach that situation intelligently and tactically, understanding your core strengths and weaknesses, focusing on ways to eliminate key threats (usually the next queued enemy) all the while moving in such a way to link your moves. Because if you don't, the enemy will, and you'll be dead.
You need to be able to assess whether you'll successfully be able to push forward, chaining moves, linking your turns (by killing next queued enemies while keeping some of yours in reserve), or whether you need to retreat and regroup. Even retreats must be tactical, since a large group of enemies can chain pretty far.
2) Some practical examples -- you might spec up your main character to be able to use a two handed sword and get some special attacks, or you might repec him for a certain mission to be a gun wielder. Or another character might need specing for extra health potions, or you might want to focus on her damage output. Or for another warrior, who does lots of small attacks, you can focus on damage output or you can focus on more attacks with less damage but a better chance to 'stagger' your enemy (staggering gives bonuses to other attacks and prevents counters). I currently have a bunch of points spent to give my main character a skill that will counter on every attack evasion... nasty against lots of grunts, especially since he's wearing two evasion rings. But that wouldn't be a good setup on mission that's primarily ranged enemies.
3) New equipment... it depends. Sometimes a new longsword +X just changes your damage output. But then there are other decisions to make... do you give your gunner a sniper rifle you found that does 1 shot with high damage, or let her keep a hunting rifle with considerably less damage but 2 (or more, depending on your skill loadout) shots? Again, it's very situational, since it's rather wonderful when she can take out two weak ranged enemies in one turn. Ultimately, though, this game isn't too lewt heavy -- you'll find some new powerful weapons behind optional doors filled with hard enemies.
4) Story events affect party size, etc, so it's hard to answer this without spoiling anything.
...anyway, I didn't sit down to write such a long essay. I'd rather be playing ND. I'm just sad it got such a lot of pre-release hate that scared people away, because I think it's an absolute gem. It's probably my favorite vita game, at least in the rpg category. It -is- hard at times -- specifically, if you don't understand the combat system and try to brute force it, you'll die. But if you do take the time to plan your turns tactically, you can often wipe out larger forces with only some scrapes and bruises. And when you finally take out some side corridor in some optional dungeon you've been skipping, it's got that feel of 'hell yeah'.
I'm still playing this game on 'lethal', and fighting for every inch, and loving it.
. Also for some reason lately I haven't gotten any gift to send even though I feel like the number of Legendary I got is higher than before.
With only 4 stages left, really doubt they can tie up everything in a neat little package as Ive said before. And its not like the "story" if you can even call it that got any better as you progressed further in the game.
, tho I dont know can you get new anymore (mine is US import).