Ascius
11-07-2006, 01:17 PM
So... during the opening cinematics, they introduce a bunch of characters...
...then kill them.
Then you start playing as this guy, learn a bunch of stuff during the tutorial phase...
...and get killed.
Then the game starts, but the tutorial phase isn't really over yet, they're slowly introducing you to various facets of the game, it's about 8 hours in that you finally fight a boss (not to be confused with a Mark, which are like minibosses) and are pretty much done with learning.
If you read Gabe's posts on Penny Arcade, I'd pretty much agree with him, where you'd first think the automation of the gambit system is too much, it's actually just letting you not hammer on X all the time, which increases my enjoyment of the game... I even set up a gambit to have a character buff my party and it was nice. It actually makes me long for a slightly more complex system, so I could fully automate the party, then see how they do in various situations, kinda like the old robot wars games, where you have no active control, just programming.
...I assume I'm a small niche in that desire though.
Anyway, I've put in 9 hours or so, and I'm rather enjoying it... the armor/weapon system is a bit annoying, in that you can only see 1 stat of the gear before trying it on...but anyone who's played with Tactics will understand how most of it differs anyway.
Jobs are gone, you basically diversify your characters by spending secondary exp on licenses, which allow you to use certain items or cast certain spells or techniques. So you can put your casters in heavy armor with shields and such if you want, but they're more effective in robes with staves.
I'm more amused than annoyed by the "here's some people, whoops, they're dead!" beginning, and the game's flow is nice, since fights don't stop and make you wait for them to load (you just run into a monster and start hitting it). So I'll give it a 1.
...then kill them.
Then you start playing as this guy, learn a bunch of stuff during the tutorial phase...
...and get killed.
Then the game starts, but the tutorial phase isn't really over yet, they're slowly introducing you to various facets of the game, it's about 8 hours in that you finally fight a boss (not to be confused with a Mark, which are like minibosses) and are pretty much done with learning.
If you read Gabe's posts on Penny Arcade, I'd pretty much agree with him, where you'd first think the automation of the gambit system is too much, it's actually just letting you not hammer on X all the time, which increases my enjoyment of the game... I even set up a gambit to have a character buff my party and it was nice. It actually makes me long for a slightly more complex system, so I could fully automate the party, then see how they do in various situations, kinda like the old robot wars games, where you have no active control, just programming.
...I assume I'm a small niche in that desire though.
Anyway, I've put in 9 hours or so, and I'm rather enjoying it... the armor/weapon system is a bit annoying, in that you can only see 1 stat of the gear before trying it on...but anyone who's played with Tactics will understand how most of it differs anyway.
Jobs are gone, you basically diversify your characters by spending secondary exp on licenses, which allow you to use certain items or cast certain spells or techniques. So you can put your casters in heavy armor with shields and such if you want, but they're more effective in robes with staves.
I'm more amused than annoyed by the "here's some people, whoops, they're dead!" beginning, and the game's flow is nice, since fights don't stop and make you wait for them to load (you just run into a monster and start hitting it). So I'll give it a 1.