With all the great strategy-RPG releases coming out in the near future, I just can't seem to make time move fast enough. Plus, there's the fact that EbGames keeps switching all the release dates on the games, so my preorders keep moving farther and farther back. So, the combination of my wanting a game to play, and my nearly collapsing from a 4-hour workout left me in a weakened state in which...I actually went to Hollywood Video to rent a game.
I know, I know...I'm not very proud of it. I mean any self-respecting game rental location would have taken down Def Jam Vendetta from its New Release shelf a looong time ago. It's at least 4 months old, people. So I caved. Due to my weakened state, I was determined to rent ANYTHING, and the only thing interesting on the shelves was Arc the Lad: Twilight of Spirits.
I haven't played any of the previous Arc the Lad games, but I don't think that this one bears any more resemblance than a similarity in name, at least as far I can tell from the story. You start the story as the oddly named Kharg. (I don't know what the heck these people were thinking when they came up with names, but the first people you'll meet are Kharg, Lloyd, and Paulette.) Kharg's got a funny tattoo, and a mom, Nafia, who has a shady past.
From various events you learn that there are two basic groups in the world...humans, and Deimos. They both fought in a bloody war, and decided to eventually call a truce. The Deimos would inhabit one part of the world, and the humans inhabit the other. (Watch the cutscenes, you'll notice the voices actors will say, "Earth", but the text underneath will read, "world".) You play through Kharg in Chapter 1, and honestly, you'll figure out that Kharg's mom was getting down with the Deimos pretty quickly. (or as I like to refer to the event..."had the evil inside".) After you finish up Kharg's chapter, you'll start playing as his Deimos half-brother Darc.
The switching between characters is all right...but Suikoden III already did it this year, and to much better effect. Darc is told to reunite the Deimos, and through a common acquaintance, Lilia, they eventually figure out that Darc and Kharg are both carrying one half of the Wind Stone, a source of power that the Great Spirits in the game world left behind. Darc will try and lead the humans to power, while Darc wants to destroy them all and unite the Deimos to rule the world. The plot...well, you pretty much know what's going to happen from there.
Gameplay
Combat is kind of turn based, which was kind of nice because I wasn't expecting that at all when I picked it up. However, there isn't a whole lot of strategy that takes place. You get bonuses for attacking from behind, but for the most part, it's just walk forward, attack, repeat. After your character's taken a lot of damage, or parried a lot, they'll start glowing and they can execute a combo attack. When the glowing character attacks a target that is within range of another character, they both team up for major damage. I think they get an increased critical chance for a 2-3 turns if you opt not to use the combo attack right off.
Unlike the standard turn-based strategy RPGs you won't be moving hexes or square tiles, rather, you'll have a radius of movement, and an attack radius as well. Your arc and attack range depends on your character, and often times you can line up an attack to hit multiple targets. I'd say that's probably the only time any actual strategy takes place...trying to line up a more effective shot/spell.
You have magic and special attacks for use. These attacks drain Spirit Stones, which you can obtain in battle, or from the local store. You can equip items that allow you to hold more Spirit Stones or whatever, but essentially they're just like MP. You have a big pool for your party, and each individual character has a pool they can pull from. A little tweak on the MP system, but honestly, not too big of a deal.
One of the biggest problems I have with the gameplay is that it is WAY too easy to power level. I had all my skills for Darc by Chapter 2. I was only at something like level 25, though, and I got there without even really trying all that hard. At that point the only thing that could stop me were these retarded Coleopts that spit this goo on you that drops you to a pathetically ineffective level. I find any sort of "Level Down" element in a game to be a half-assed attempt at game balance, that didn't sit well with me at all. Using the monsters in the arena didn't help matters any.
The other problem is all the "random" battles. You'll basically get into a fight any time you progress over two segments of town. This got really annoying after a while, and I actually found myself falling asleep in the middle of fights. Not good. I just wanted to get on with the game, but often found that to be too much of a chore, and would actually shut the game off without saving I was getting so tired of it. I figured it would take me less time doing the process over than it would to actually plod my way through the mess while I was half-asleep.
Sound
The voice actors are bad. Half of it isn't their fault, though. They just have to say so much stupid crap during the battles, that you hate them. On an odd note, the guy who does Volk, is a voice for the US version of Cowboy BeBop, and the guy who does Kharg's voice is in the Japanese version of FFX-2. That's the first crossover of that type that I've heard of.
The absolute nadir of the vocal category occurs in Chapter 2 of Darc's story when he's got Lilia imprisoned and she sings the absolute worst song I've ever heard. The lyrics are bad. They song doesn't keep a meter. She extends words that shouldn't be extended, and it's all around horrid. I played the game without sound from that point on.
Graphics
Normally, I address this before sound, but Lilia's song so ruined the sound aspect for me, that it just HAD to go first. The graphics, for the most part aren't that bad. Except for the in the area of battle effects. It takes a good 6 seconds for any attack to go off, and the effects are so similar and bland that you don't want to use any of the spell effects after a while.
The characters look pretty good, with some big exceptions made for their weapons. Paulette's little whip-chain doesn't have a chain...until you do special moves. Otherwise, she's whirling it around, and you can't see anything. It makes for perhaps the stupidest looking weapon attacks in a game, bar none. I have issues with Kharg's sword, and the way Darc has to stick his sword in his mouth to cast magic. And Camilla looks stupid. Worst character ever.
I don't understand why there's such a wide range of stuff in this game. There are huge extremes in quality. Darc and Kharg look pretty good. Paulette, Maru, Volk, and Delma look ok. Bebedora would look ok if she didn't have a mouth for a stomach, and Camilla is shriveled up and horrid looking. I wanted to kill her off myself. The Pyron you get to transport you and can summon in battle is almost as horrible looking. A goofy looking grinning fireball with arms.
Aside from that, though, things look ok in the game. Animations are all right, and the maps look ok, although they do repeat often.
Story
The story stops making sense very, very rapidly. Take Darc's story for example. In Chapter I, he has to kill off his master, and Delma's brother, Densimo. When confronted by Delma, instead of telling her how Densimo betrayed him, he just talks about how he killed everyone and laughs evilly. Then next chapter, he wants Delma to be all understanding. Delma agrees to go along with Darc, but obviously wants to kill him, and as you'd expect she tries, and fails. Darc lets her live, and in one of the strangest moments of game dialogue I've ever come across, tells her to make sure she kills him next time, and awkwardly lets her stay in the party. It only gets worse once Camilla joins, because in the span of two towns, she betrays you twice, and Darc doesn't do ANYTHING about it! That starts fights in your party about pots calling kettles black, and so on and so forth.
I've heard that the story is what was so endearing about this series. Well they either threw that out the window for this version completely, or something got SERIOUSLY lost in translation. The localization is pretty bad, but I don't think it'd affect the core plot of the game...you can usually see interesting plot twists and story arcs even with bad translation. Maybe it did...who knows. What I do know is that, in its final released form, this isn't anything your average 4th grader couldn't have written better.
Overall
There's an overall quality of the game that makes it greater than the sum of its parts. But not that much greater...not enough to make this game better than average. This game needed to get a big kick in the pants in the gameplay and graphics area, and that plot seriously needed to be worked on. This could have been a lot more fun...but it definitely needed a lot more work. I'd never heard of Cattle Call before this game (no pun intended.) but they obviously don't know too much about what goes into a good game. If you skimp on graphics and sound, you have to make sure the gameplay and the story are solid, and it just wasn't here.
