I'll
have to admit that you might find my overall rating for this game slightly
higher than what the common game reviewer would give it but it seems as if a
mystical force keeps drawing me back to this game. In this Konami RPG, you
control the fate of the only child of an Imperial General. Because of his best
friends past, he becomes mixed up in a rebellion in which he must decide for
which side he will join. The epic adventure combines both the enchantment of
monsters and magic, and the brutality of a gruesome war. The story itself is
deep yet not to complex to make it relatively easy to understand. Obviously, the
biggest point of this game is the cast of characters. In order to fulfil his
destiny, the young hero can recruit up to 108 characters. Although not all of
these characters can be used in battle, most will at least provide help, whether
it be casting spells on the battlefield or keeping a shop back at the castle.
Such a large cast does have its disadvantages, most characters have very little
depth. However, this does leave a lot of room for the players imagination.
Because the whole world is not ultra-detailed and the characters not deeply
developed, the player can feel as if he is living his own adventure in his own
world. That's what makes this RPG different from most of the others. You don't
have control over shady characters like in FF7 or Xenogears, you have control
over yourself.
As for the technical aspects of the
game, the sprite based graphics are clear but lack any lustre. The music is as
good as it gets, although it is not the most diversified soundtrack out there.
The battle system is simple, perhaps too simple. You can beat all the bosses
simply by packing enough medicine and using only strong attacks. However, the
easiness of the battles is compensated by an extremely quick interface. This,
combined to the absence of load times before combat, makes random enormously
less annoying than in other games such as BOF3 in which the battles were
challenging, but which made you cry because of the slower than life pace.
However, this has the effect of amplifying the biggest problem with the game.
It's too short and easy, and doesn't have a lot of secrets other than unlocking
the 108 characters. Nevertheless, I personally have finished the game seven
times. I'm not saying you'll enjoy it as much as I have, or play it non-stop.
But if you can find this game, it's guaranteed fun for any RPG fan.