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[Zzoram]

Do you realize that I didn't just limit it GAF? You can find the same buzz on GameFAQs and other gaming forums. I also have two real-life friends playing it and they're enjoying it, too.

This is getting tiring. I don't like going out of my way to defend games, but the treatment of this game in particular by the media contrasts so greatly with not only my own personal feelings about it, but my observations of others'. I'm genuinely flabbergasted by what reviewers are saying about the game. Not only that, though, I'm saddened to see people decide that the game isn't worth their time based on these high-profile reviewers' opinions, completely ignoring the opinions of anyone else.

I'm sorry to all of you who would prefer to listen exclusively to these reviewers and not regular gamers. You're missing out on a fantastic game. As RK said, an individual's money and their gaming time are precious and valuble, and I wouldn't be trying to get people to give it a shot if I didn't think it was worthwhile. But in the end, it is your time and your money, so do what you'd like.

I hope I never see any of you whining about how all SE does is pump out sequels and remakes again, though.

I'll admit that the reviews were probably too harsh. In an age where Carnival Games and Gingerbread Man are on store shelves, actually being purchased, any serious attempt at a good game from a good developer should probably be getting better reception.

 

[Ledsen]

It's just sad to think people are playing things like Little Big Planet, Fallout 3 and Gears of War 2 when there is a much better game in TLR to be found.

90% of the people playing LBP, FO3 and GoW2 would probably hate TLR, so why would you think it's sad? It's not really the type of mass market game that most people enjoy, and jrpg fans will probably play it anyway.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Do you realize that I didn't just limit it GAF? You can find the same buzz on GameFAQs and other gaming forums. I also have two real-life friends playing it and they're enjoying it, too.

This is getting tiring. I don't like going out of my way to defend games, but the treatment of this game in particular by the media contrasts so greatly with not only my own personal feelings about it, but my observations of others'. I'm genuinely flabbergasted by what reviewers are saying about the game. Not only that, though, I'm saddened to see people decide that the game isn't worth their time based on these high-profile reviewers' opinions, completely ignoring the opinions of anyone else.

I'm sorry to all of you who would prefer to listen exclusively to these reviewers and not regular gamers. You're missing out on a fantastic game. As RK said, an individual's money and their gaming time are precious and valuble, and I wouldn't be trying to get people to give it a shot if I didn't think it was worthwhile. But in the end, it is your time and your money, so do what you'd like.

I hope I never see any of you whining about how all SE does is pump out sequels and remakes again, though.

You are getting really defensive for no reason imo. I have never once defended the reviews and have already said that the 5.3 and such seem low considering what I have read.

I think you'll find that nobody except for Revenant Kioku was hyped for The Last Remnant. If you go look at threads about the game, it's full of people whining about how ugly it is or how bad the framerate looked in videos. If that. Most of the threads didn't actually get very many posts at all. It's absolutely not about hype with this game, and I'd go as far to say that most people around here actually went into the game expecting it to not be very good. I'm one of those people. I got it because it's a new turn-based RPG, and I feel it necessary to support them. Going into the game not expecting to like it very much has left me incredibly pleasantly surprised.

And you weren't talking about GAF in those bolded parts? Because that is what I quoted and the point I was talking about.

And I have read a lot of the defense for the game here but it has left me on the fence still. I understand that the battle system has a lot of depth and it looks like something I would really enjoy. However, I haven't seen many good things said about the story, characters, music, towns, dungeons, etc. Plus most people here are just brushing away the technical problems because of the install. That is just not an option for a lot of people and should not be set aside so easily. It's like saying the game has a horrible soundtrack but it's all fine if you mute it.

 

[juicyfruitas]

damn, X-Play gots no love for SE products these days.

2 out of 5 for FF: Crisis Core

as well as

2 out of 5 for TLR

 

[My Arms Your Hearse]

Only if you're a conspiracy theorist.



Good Lord. I guess you got one of three right there, but still. :lol

I notice the "people will go to lengths to justify something they spent money on" theory doesn't get floated much when it comes to the old "reviews don't match the user ratings" conundrum.

There's no conspiracy. It's just a fact of reality. Mainstream gaming media haven't been able to rate JRPGs for shit since at least the start of the PS2 era.

The opposite has happend with WRPGs. Seriously, the AVERAGE WRPG score this generation is higher than games like BGII, Planescape, and the original Fallout games. Think about that. ME/Fable2/F3/Oblivion/Jade Empire(LOLOLOL)... all DESTROY most if not all ofthe classic PC WRPGs in review scores.

And they're all comparatively pieces of shit (if not outright). Care to explain this to me? Do you really think WRPGs we're getting today are of higher quality than late 90s/early 00s PC WRPGs? REALLY (Pool of Radiance does not count!)?

Because you'd have to be completely insane to believe that. Also, shooting guns gives you like an automatic +1 to the final score, regardless of genre.

 

[adversesolutions]

The game is a solid high 7/8.

It has innovation enough to merit attention and is worth playing.

::Leaves work to turn on 360::

 

[adversesolutions]

damn, X-Play gots no love for SE products these days.

2 out of 5 for FF: Crisis Core

deserved

 

[kay]

I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here. The fact is that users look at scores first, reviews second (if ever). The low scores, and reviews like IGN's, are misrepresenting the game in a big way, and that is why I and others are up in arms about. If you'd like to see evidence of this, look in this very thread. There are pages and pages of extremely positive impressions, and people keep coming in every time a review is posted saying, essentially, that nobody here has any idea what they're talking about, and the game must be terrible.

The people that do that are stupid, sorry if someone does that and is reading this but really, form an opinion yourself.

As far as low scores, I'm not going to go there as it is all subjective. The game is likely going to be terrible for some and great for others and it just so happens a lot of reviewers weren't in the second group. I'm not one to judge people on what they like and don't like, I try not to anyway. However, the misinformation should be fixed because that's just embarrassing.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I do. Before I buy a game, I'd like to know if it's any good. Reviewers are better at articulating the good and bad of a game than your average forum poster. They may not be perfect, but it helps me with my decisions. While they can be off from time to time, they are generally pretty close to the truth in my experience.

I suspect part of the reason why this score was so low was also the time of year. It came out in November, the most AAA packed month of the year, which means reviewers were comparing their experience with this game to their experiences with other games. Eternal Sonata came out during the slow season, when it's merits wouldn't get overshadowed by tons of superior games.

It would be interesting to see what other games the reviewers of this game were reviewing in the last month.

Well, if these are the sort of people you listen to, I feel really bad for you!
The system is bad, and you should be very wary of it.

90% of the people playing LBP, FO3 and GoW2 would probably hate TLR, so why would you think it's sad? It's not really the type of mass market game that most people enjoy, and jrpg fans will probably play it anyway.

Because those people are wrong and wrong is not good.

It's like saying the game has a horrible soundtrack but it's all fine if you mute it.

That did make Drag on Dragoon a better game though.

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

This only reminds me of how badly Lost Odyssey was received by the critics, yet how awesome the actual game was. One of the best JRPG's of all time in my opinion - yes, up there with Final Fantasy VIII and the like. Mind you, I haven't played Last Remnant a lot yet, but first impressions are positive. The character-models are nice, the graphics are pretty good, the music is fine, voice-acting is very bearable, and the battle-system seems interesting. It's definetely worthy of a try in my opinion - especially if you love JRPGs.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

what's with the walking animations though?
they're like penguins

 

[chespace]

Ugh, so I'm at Elysion and I can't seem to find a way to trigger the next "main quest" story or mission.

What the hell? I've gone to a few neighboring areas (desert, trading town, and lava cave) but have not found anything besides a quest from the the king of trading town that was way too hard.

How do I get into the academy at Elysion?

 

[Always-honest]

Well this sucks. I currently have Gears of War 2 installed and I don't think I can free up another 6+GBs without deleting some important content of other games... don't feel like uninstalling Gears 2 since I play it so often, but I might not have a choice, which is complete bs because I recall something like this happening with a certain PS3 game where installing was basically the only way to have a relatively smooth experience. S-E and all devs need to know that this can't be tolerated.

Gears plays fine without an install.

 

[Zzoram]

Gears plays fine without an install.

I'm thinking of uninstalling Gears 2 to make room for my JRPG binge coming up. I hope I don't burn out, but playing all the JRPGs on the 360 in succession should be awesome.

 

[Lé Blade Runner]

what's with the walking animations though?
they're like penguins

True - it takes some time to get used to. Doesn't bother me much anymore, though.

 

[Blimblim]

Ugh, so I'm at Elysion and I can't seem to find a way to trigger the next "main quest" story or mission.

What the hell? I've gone to a few neighboring areas (desert, trading town, and lava cave) but have not found anything besides a quest from the the king of trading town that was way too hard.

How do I get into the academy at Elysion?

Go back to the first street you visited there. I was also confused there, trying to get into the academy or whatever. Just go to that street and it will trigger an event.
And yes, the walking/running animations are really bad.

 

[batbeg]

And I have read a lot of the defense for the game here but it has left me on the fence still. I understand that the battle system has a lot of depth and it looks like something I would really enjoy. However, I haven't seen many good things said about the story, characters, music, towns, dungeons, etc. Plus most people here are just brushing away the technical problems because of the install. That is just not an option for a lot of people and should not be set aside so easily. It's like saying the game has a horrible soundtrack but it's all fine if you mute it.

My impressions, then:

The story is interesting if poorly strung along, though I personally love searching out in the world and exploring beyond the main quest areas and finding the pieces of story in other places (such as the tale of the creature who loved fighting, and was so great at it, that he one day himself became a living blade, or the story of the two birds, representing good and evil, who fought for a long time, until who put the other to sleep with a lullaby, etc.). The five-minute cutscene fight between two characters was pretty fucking awesome too.

The characters are enjoyable enough besides Rush, who's okay when he's all serious for his family, but a fucking twat when he's talking like a Californian surfer (and I am serious here - he said something was "mint"). I really enjoy Emma, David, and have even found characters like Blocter and Torgal to be pretty decent, and there's a new female character in my party that seems pretty cool as well. You can recruit new leaders from sidequests, and learn a little bit about them (for example: Baulsen has talked to me about his childhood and his sister). They don't show up in the story, but there can be some things found about some of them.

The music is pretty fantastic. There's a lot of different battle music songs out there, a lot of which are great, but I much prefer the dungeon/city/story music, I think it's just wonderful.

The towns are nicely put together as there's the basic things you need in each one, as well as a little story about their remnant (or lack of, in at least one instance), and all the shops/guild/pub that you'll need. I like the FFXII system of not letting you explore everything, and only being able to talk to so many people, as it means I can just look at the minimap and get things done instead of wasting 6 hours talking to everyone - the emphasis on you only exploring part of the city also makes that believable.

The dungeons are pretty great. They aren't littered with enemies, but there's enough there to give you the challenge should you want it. It's generally pretty easy to run from them and avoid fights, which I tend to do if I'm overly powerful for the area. You have to find the map in most areas, and there are a large number of turns and passages, so it depends how much you like exploration, I suppose. There are random rare monsters which can be fun to find, as they're none to common, and there's also some things like seeing a dragon. A big fucking dragon. I had the intelligence to save, especially since he didn't seem interested in chasing me, so of course when I fought him he handed me my ass :lol

And I don't think people are ignoring the install issue at all. I believe it's chespace who has even said a few times, if you can not install it, do not buy it. Personally, I've never been hung up on technical issues in a game, and can't think of a single one I've ever had ruined by it, so I'm not the best judge of these things. All I know is this is fucking awesome, and easily my GOTY by now.

 

[PARANO1A]

I'll admit that the reviews were probably too harsh. In an age where Carnival Games and Gingerbread Man are on store shelves, actually being purchased, any serious attempt at a good game from a good developer should probably be getting better reception.

Agreed. It's funny, because I think the industry is coming apart thanks to two opposing forces: 1) Ninjabread/Wii Junk profits being massive, with quality vs. profit being the most it's ever been disconnected in the gaming industry right now... and 2) the "hardcore" review crowd needing to build up its own (unnecessary) industry due to self-importance and pompous attitudes.

If things don't "right" themselves soon, the "gaming media" will cause its own extinction. Wii Play - constantly mocked across the industry as a gameplay insult turned into a Nintendo marketer's wet dream - for comparison scored a C+. Seeing a new, unique Squeenix game get loads of love on GAF, and insulted in the media really makes me a little depressed... though it's good for the industry "revolution" that will come over the next few years as IGN/Gamespot and the like become dinosaurs in the same way the evening news has become.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

We live in an age where Baten Kaitos II gets a 4.5 in the gaming "press". The fact that TLR appears to be an excellent game and is bombing among the supposed "critics" is unsurprising.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Any good online deals yet? I think someone posted a 39.99 TLR a couple of days ago but i cant find it

 

[Bossman]

Was this already posted?

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=57835

Details of the downloadable content are as follows:

1. Challenge Pack 1: “Purgatory’s Sins” (FREE): Level up your game with this pack of ultra-challenging guild tasks. Adequate game progression is necessary.
Release date: Gold Member: 1st December, 2008 and Silver Member: 8th December, 2008

2. “The Key of Ancient Ruins” (FREE): Unlock the gates to the Ancient Ruins with this key, and discover what mysteries lie within its crumbling depths.
Release date: Gold Member: 1st December, 2008 and Silver Member: 8th December, 2008


3. “March to War Set” (100MSP): Three special unlockable formations (Scatterswarm, Goblet and Catapult) that will boost your tactical strength during battle.
Release date: Gold Member: 15th December, 2008 and Silver Member: 15th December, 2008

4. Challenge Pack 2: “The Price of Lies” (FREE): Add this pack of the most difficult guild tasks yet. Adequate game progression is necessary.
Release date: Gold Member: 22nd December, 2008 and Silver Member: 29th December, 2008

Sweet, tons of free DLC.

 

[Urban Scholar]

My impressions, then:

The story is interesting if poorly strung along, though I personally love searching out in the world and exploring beyond the main quest areas and finding the pieces of story in other places

Now I like when a game gives me that option, thus this game continues to sound better and better to me.

 

[batbeg]

Was this already posted?

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=57835



Sweet, tons of free DLC.

Fuuuck, I wish I had internet access so badly

 

[Monocle]

Amazon finally got the game to me. I've played for around five hours so far, enough time for my tepid interest to become a surge of headache-inducing enthusiasm.

The art is a nice blend of fantasy and realism, which works to especially great effect in the environments. They are all beautiful. Many of the character designs are a step up from traditional RPG fare. The mitra look like real humans with practical outfits. The other races are only decent, except for the qsiti (small frog-like beings), whose design I like quite a lot. They have endearing voices and are more than capable weapon wielders despite their stature. The enemy designs are imaginative.

I'm playing with the game installed and the technical issues are more or less as bad as I've heard. The framerate during battle is uneven--outright sluggish in large encounters--and I noticed a moderate amount of screen tearing. The most disappointing thing is the overall quality of the graphics. At 720p, the jaggies, poor textures and muddy color palette add up to one rough picture; the game looks like a rushed launch title. (I wonder if it would look better on my SDTV, where the decreased resolution might obscure some of the rough edges.) These problems, troublesome at first, I found myself quick to ignore once I experienced the battle system proper.

Combat is enthralling, even now when my options are limited. It is TLR's greatest strength, and the reason why anyone who calls him- or herself a fan of RPGs should feel compelled to give this game a serious look. Gameplay is the most important aspect of a game, as I'm sure we can all agree, and TLR's is uncommonly robust. I would hate for people to miss out on it by putting too much stock in harsh reviews, or focusing only on the performance problems.

The story seems to fade in significance as more of the game opens up. It's not uninteresting. Far from it. It's just that the ambrosial combat is so much more powerful a motivation to keep playing.

TLR was made for loot whores like me.

deserved

Not a chance in hell. Not with such good production values, that fun combat system and its truly superb soundtrack.

 

[Sleeker]

I'm about to take a hit.

I'm a JRPG junkie

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

Do you really think WRPGs we're getting today are of higher quality than late 90s/early 00s PC WRPGs?

It seems to me that most folks on the WRPG bandwagon hopped on with KOTOR or Oblivion and have never played any of the 'classics'. If it isn't on a console it doesn't exist, and I think that's what most of this "the west has overtaken Japan" bullshit stems from. I don't think there's been a huge increase in the quality of Western games - all that's happened is major PC devs shifted to consoles, and while much of the RPG output isn't up to the former standards of the genre it seems fresh if you've never played a PC game before.

 

[ethelred]

Okay, so I've completed lots of quests, fought lots of marks, and I'm in the upper 50s for my battle rank, and so far I agree that the Curse status is one of the most lethal things in the game. It can devastate my party pretty easily.

So after all of that, the best strategy I've found for dealing with the Curse status: don't get hit with the Curse status.

Once you've been inflicted, you're already on the road to a game over. So deal with it by not getting it in the first place, which is actually easier than it might seem. In 90% of the fights I've been through where an enemy uses Curse, they use it in the first turn with all multilocked unions. If you hold back all your unions (put them on standby, set them to heal, whatever), the enemy will only deadlock one of them, and only that union will get hit with Curse. The others can multilock on turn 2 and begin fighting. You'll still have one inflicted union, but that's better than all of them and it makes a huge difference just to take that one extra turn, because I rarely see monsters that try Cursing again after the first round.

 

[djtiesto]

We live in an age where Baten Kaitos II gets a 4.5 in the gaming "press". The fact that TLR appears to be an excellent game and is bombing among the supposed "critics" is unsurprising.

???!!! 4.5 for one of the best games I've ever played. You have GOT to be kidding me... I have yet to meet one person who didn't agree that BK:O was fantastic and one of the best games from last gen.

Based on impressions from people I usually trust when it comes to RPGs, TLR sounds excellent, apart from slowdown and framerate issues.

And LOL for the lead character using the word "mint", we used that all the time around here back in the 80's.

 

[cleveridea]

so I installed Last Remnant after deleting all demos and videos and I now have 829 MB left!

I have a spare 20 GB drive, can I just swap drives and set up my same xbox live gold account & then use this other drive for installed games only (no other DLC, saves etc)? Can I swap between these drives (ie with the same account) without triggering a Sir Cheater McCheatington event?

 

[Aeana]

So what kinds of unions and formations is everybody using? Union creation is still a bit of a mystery to me, even after all of this time. I have no idea what affects the unleashing of variant formations (like Arrow of Athlum II), or really any of the finer points of union building. I just kind of cobble them together based on the resulting stats, or move people around in attempt to make sure the most units get to use their abilities, with only limited success.

 

[chespace]

Okay, so I've completed lots of quests, fought lots of marks, and I'm in the upper 50s for my battle rank, and so far I agree that the Curse status is one of the most lethal things in the game. It can devastate my party pretty easily.

So after all of that, the best strategy I've found for dealing with the Curse status: don't get hit with the Curse status.

Once you've been inflicted, you're already on the road to a game over. So deal with it by not getting it in the first place, which is actually easier than it might seem. In 90% of the fights I've been through where an enemy uses Curse, they use it in the first turn with all multilocked unions. If you hold back all your unions (put them on standby, set them to heal, whatever), the enemy will only deadlock one of them, and only that union will get hit with Curse. The others can multilock on turn 2 and begin fighting. You'll still have one inflicted union, but that's better than all of them and it makes a huge difference just to take that one extra turn, because I rarely see monsters that try Cursing again after the first round.

Ah, good idea. Have you also tried casting silence on creatures who can cast curse?

I've also found that if you're going to go into encounters with monsters who can curse, it's better to have more than 1 enemy union to fight against. If you only have 1 enemy union, then none of your own unions get the option to revive each other.

 

[Aeana]

Ah, good idea. Have you also tried casting silence on creatures who can cast curse?

I've also found that if you're going to go into encounters with monsters who can curse, it's better to have more than 1 enemy union to fight against. If you only have 1 enemy union, then none of your own unions get the option to revive each other.

You can revive dead units?

 

[FutureZombie]

Just watched the GameTrailers review, and this game looks great. It's exactly what I'm looking for. If I can make it through Odin Sphere's craptacular framerate, than I doubt TLR will bother me. After all, it's turn based.

I'm looking forward to it a lot now. It appears to deliver a challenging new battle system, and that is something this generation of games desperately needs.

 

[Chrange]

You can revive dead units?

Vivification!

 

[Aeana]

I guess I don't have the ability... my remedies haven't been leveling at all lately, because I hardly ever have to use them. I have up to restore III and the one that recovers status ailments, and I think that's all. It sounds like chespace is much earlier in the game than me, too... ugh.

 

[chespace]

I guess I don't have the ability... my remedies haven't been leveling at all lately, because I hardly ever have to use them. I have up to restore III and the one that recovers status ailments, and I think that's all. It sounds like chespace is much earlier in the game than me, too... ugh.

Yeah, I did quite a bit of side-questing so I'm at battle rank 27 and am just past the cutscene where you're introduced to The Conqueror at Elysion.

 

[Aeana]

Yeah, I did quite a bit of side-questing so I'm at battle rank 27 and am just past the cutscene where you're introduced to The Conqueror at Elysion.

I'm at battle rank 52 and much further in the story. I've also done every single sidequest available to me so far.

I was starting to think that the SaGa style of progression wouldn't annoy me this time around, but... I think it has, now. Being penalized because I don't have to heal very much is dumb.

 

[Zzoram]

I just got Blue Dragon used for $13.50 worth of credit. Hopefully by the time I get to this game, it'll be down to at least $40.

 

[Schopenhauer]

I guess I don't have the ability... my remedies haven't been leveling at all lately, because I hardly ever have to use them. I have up to restore III and the one that recovers status ailments, and I think that's all. It sounds like chespace is much earlier in the game than me, too... ugh.

You get vivification from herb arts. You are definitely going to need that as you progress further in the game.

Edit: You should be able to recruit a soldier or hire a leader that has the skill if you haven't really been using herb items arts.

 

[Kestastrophe]

My impressions, then:

The story is interesting if poorly strung along, though I personally love searching out in the world and exploring beyond the main quest areas and finding the pieces of story in other places (such as the tale of the creature who loved fighting, and was so great at it, that he one day himself became a living blade, or the story of the two birds, representing good and evil, who fought for a long time, until who put the other to sleep with a lullaby, etc.). The five-minute cutscene fight between two characters was pretty fucking awesome too.

The characters are enjoyable enough besides Rush, who's okay when he's all serious for his family, but a fucking twat when he's talking like a Californian surfer (and I am serious here - he said something was "mint"). I really enjoy Emma, David, and have even found characters like Blocter and Torgal to be pretty decent, and there's a new female character in my party that seems pretty cool as well. You can recruit new leaders from sidequests, and learn a little bit about them (for example: Baulsen has talked to me about his childhood and his sister). They don't show up in the story, but there can be some things found about some of them.

The music is pretty fantastic. There's a lot of different battle music songs out there, a lot of which are great, but I much prefer the dungeon/city/story music, I think it's just wonderful.

The towns are nicely put together as there's the basic things you need in each one, as well as a little story about their remnant (or lack of, in at least one instance), and all the shops/guild/pub that you'll need. I like the FFXII system of not letting you explore everything, and only being able to talk to so many people, as it means I can just look at the minimap and get things done instead of wasting 6 hours talking to everyone - the emphasis on you only exploring part of the city also makes that believable.

The dungeons are pretty great. They aren't littered with enemies, but there's enough there to give you the challenge should you want it. It's generally pretty easy to run from them and avoid fights, which I tend to do if I'm overly powerful for the area. You have to find the map in most areas, and there are a large number of turns and passages, so it depends how much you like exploration, I suppose. There are random rare monsters which can be fun to find, as they're none to common, and there's also some things like seeing a dragon. A big fucking dragon. I had the intelligence to save, especially since he didn't seem interested in chasing me, so of course when I fought him he handed me my ass :lol

And I don't think people are ignoring the install issue at all. I believe it's chespace who has even said a few times, if you can not install it, do not buy it. Personally, I've never been hung up on technical issues in a game, and can't think of a single one I've ever had ruined by it, so I'm not the best judge of these things. All I know is this is fucking awesome, and easily my GOTY by now.

Can you give your impressions of the levelling and combat systems as well? I like how detailed your post was

 

[Aeana]

You get vivification from herb arts. You are definitely going to need that as you progress further in the game.

Oh... herbs? Really? I haven't used those at all. I'd much rather use magic than consumables to heal. That's an even bigger "ugh."

 

[Schopenhauer]

Oh... herbs? Really? I haven't used those at all. I'd much rather use magic than consumables to heal. That's an even bigger "ugh."

It is a good idea to have at least a few leaders or soldiers who specialize in herb item arts in case you get silenced or have your ap sapped.

 

[Rummy Bunnz]

So I'm in Dillmoor, and maybe it's too early to judge, but I gotta say all these technical problems have been significantly overblown. I'm sure it's worse from the disc, and maybe later on things get worse, but with the game installed I don't see anything worth bitching about.

 

[Ricker]

So what kinds of unions and formations is everybody using? Union creation is still a bit of a mystery to me, even after all of this time. I have no idea what affects the unleashing of variant formations (like Arrow of Athlum II), or really any of the finer points of union building. I just kind of cobble them together based on the resulting stats, or move people around in attempt to make sure the most units get to use their abilities, with only limited success.

Don't worry you are not alone...I think i found one of my mistake now...I'm doing the big Emma sidequest,in the ruins where you climb a ladder at the start to get extra rooms,at one point i reached a room with 2 big Rhino type monsters and almost died,so i re arranged my Union,leader/units,it went better but I still can't clear the Boss room and i think i know why...I reached Battle Rank 15 in there but at one point I wasn't even using Emma has a leader and in a union...I can only make 2 Unions when i could make 3 because I have 2 leaders in the same Union...I''l try and disband everyone(less confusing for me so far then play around with everyone) and re create 3 Unions with 1 leader in each because that is the max leaders I can have.

What I would like to know is what to look for when you recruit your 10 soldiers so i can have my 3 Unions with at least one healer in each,because right now my Union 2 can't heal itself.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

???!!! 4.5 for one of the best games I've ever played. You have GOT to be kidding me... I have yet to meet one person who didn't agree that BK:O was fantastic and one of the best games from last gen.

Mielke strikes again. (The score was 4.5 in the magazine and on the website before 1up turned over to letter scores.)

You guys must be season-ticket holders to the local high school's theater productions, 'cause you obviously crave cheese with that whine. I haven't encountered so many boring prerendered backgrounds, talking heads, bleh voice acting, laughably inept cut-scenes, and, um, card battles since...the last Baten Kaitos. As if the formula weren't tedious enough, wading your way through its convoluted plot is barely enough to keep interest high as you assemble your custom card deck. If you followed the first game, you'll undoubtedly enjoy what's offered here. (Really, do GameCube RPG fans have any other choice?) But gamers looking for ways to fill the empty void in the gaping maw of their Cubes would do well to just sit still until the arrival of Twilight Princess.

 

[Aeana]

Well, thank goodness for recruitables. I'm back in action with vivification herb and life powder for all three of my unions.

 

[chespace]

Well, thank goodness for recruitables. I'm back in action with vivification herb and life powder for all three of my unions.

I've been tearin' it up with only 2 unions.

Right now I have 4 union leaders, and a total of 9 units.

I have them split between 5 and 4 between my 2 unions, with 2 leaders in each union.

I'm scared to go 3 unions because it leaves them more vulnerable in terms of HP.

 

[batbeg]

Edit: Double post, sorry.

 

[batbeg]

Can you give your impressions of the levelling and combat systems as well? I like how detailed your post was

Difficult for me to say about the leveling, as I'm honestly even at this point fairly uncertain how it works. I can say I have found it nearly impossible to do any sort of meaningful "grinding" (not that I've tried) - ten or so hours after leaving the dungeon Dilmoor, and a huge amount of side quests and story progression later, there were still enemies there that were able to offer me a very hefty challenge (especially fucking imps ). As to how it works, it's meant to be something like this:

The stats you implement increase more often, for example, using attacks more may boost your strength and attack, or using mystic artes may increase your intelligence (I have some qualms with this idea, as it does not necessarily seem true).

The more enemies you have defeated consecutively in a dungeon ("chains" which apply to all enemies you've killed, so long as you have not been ambushed), the swifter the status progression.

Weapons and the like are upgraded automatically by your teammates who will request certain items after battles, so that they can apply them to their weapons.

The battle system is definitely something I approve of, though I hadn't bothered commenting on it since it's what most people here are gushing about But I'll give it a go.

I love the strategic elements of not just forming a union, and finding out which units work best in which unions, but finding that you can never have 100% control over them. It's easy enough to know which of your moves will be used from a general command (indeed, pressing "X" shows you which moves they'll use), but at the same time, you are like a general giving out commands to separate groups instead of instructing every single soldier under your lead. The move "Keep your HP up!" will generally have someone using restorative artes, and the others attack with normal attacks or combat artes, depending on your AP at that time.

There is also a huge deal of freedom involved, but the AI is consistently top-notch. My units have consistently been able to reassess a situation and change their move, mid-turn, for the better. For example, with one person using Restore III (heals 800ish HP), the next character realized they did not need to use Life Powder (heals 1200ish HP), and thus reassessed and changed to using Restore III. Or finding that a unit will change from a normal attack to a combat arte if they've been granted more AP during that move.

Of course, the speed is something worth mentioning. For a game with such emphasis on strategy, and huge battles with a large amount of characters, they can be damn near instantaneous. In a good fight, I can end it in one or two turns, though the tougher ones will genuinely try my abilities, and push me as hard as possible. Of course, if you are finding an area too easy, it's incredibly easy to run from enemies - the game tells you when you are targeted, and if you are, all you need to do is freeze time momentarily, and run.

I don't know how much splurging I can do on this game, just hope I'm helping some people with my detailed, incoherent love letters to it I realize as well that everything I said has sounded overwhelmingly positive, and I would say there are definitely problems I have with the game, but they are mostly to do with the superficial and so don't stick out to me so much (technically ugly, main story poorly told, and er... not much else actually). I can see this as not for everyone, but I implore anyone who finds it interesting to try it for themselves, as almost all people who have played it have been positive.

Edit: Double post, sorry.

 

[Aeana]

I've been tearin' it up with only 2 unions.

Right now I have 4 union leaders, and a total of 9 units.

I have them split between 5 and 4 between my 2 unions, with 2 leaders in each union.

I'm scared to go 3 unions because it leaves them more vulnerable in terms of HP.

Yeah, I only used two unions when my limits were like that, as well. Now I can have up to 4 unions, 5 leaders, 12 (I think?) total units, so I have three unions of four each, and two of them have two leaders.