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Overview : This doesn't look much on the outside, mostly polygon graphics and FMV. Very similar to FF7 if u ask me. But, sadly, the story doesn't boast much hype and looks pretty lame(if u haven't played it). Generally, to the inexperienced and lazy, this could pass off easily as a ripoff of Wizardry.
Story : Actually, I'm not too sure. It's basically about these 3 characters, a fighter Til, a magician Aria and a thief(?) Rufrain. They're explorers and treasure hunters. (mercenaries). This game is mostly based on a quest given to the 3 adventurers by a mysterious looking knight.
Content : This game is click-and-go. Meaning it's like some of the PC-RPGs where you click using a cursor to proceed. The interesting thing about this game is the EXP system. Every character has a different viewpoint of the situation at hand and deals with it in a different way. You get EXP for doing anything, solving puzzles, opening chests, making decisions, killing monsters, etc. And the EXP is not group EXP, it's only given to the person who accomplished the task, the person who gets the last kill, the person who opens the chest, etc. You choose who you like best. (strangely, the magician has the highest HP....)
Gameplay : Very good. The click and go concept is very well integrated and is very smooth. There's little delay in control intepretation but it might really take a mouse to effectively avoid the enemies... I'd like to think that 98% of the game is played in the dungeon itself.
Combat : The enemies are encountered much like Romancing Saga, by touching them on the field dungeon. It's like Ogre Battle's auto-battle. However, the combat looks very good albeit frenzied. It may look very messy when you first start (I clicked everywhere frantically) because your characters run everywhere, hacking everything, and everything looks like a grand brawl. On closer examination however, you will realise that you can assign targets for your characters, you can ask them to defend instead of fighting or escape. After a certain time elapses, they will be able to perform specials by clicking on a specials guage. A small gripe is the speed of the battle, which is very fast for most humans to catch up. The pause button will be used extensively.
Pluses : Witty dialogue. Unexpectedly, the dialogue is almost good even tho the plot is almost paper-thin. Free-playing scenarios, the ability to do watever you want in the dungeon limited only by your puzzle solving skills and your time. Simplicity, generally, the audience is not limited by the language, since most of the puzzles are pretty visual. The gameplay is superb, varied opinions by the characters, puzzle solving is much better than most RPGs recently (notably Wild Arms' inane puzzles, BtB's stupid repetition puzzles, FF's ) and the grand size of the dungeon (2 CDs...god knows how big it can be...)
Minuses : The camera angle sucks. The computer changes it as and when it likes and this does make your clicking very erratic. The enemies repopulate once you exit and enter the room again. The save points are pretty sparse. there are no healing potions only healing points so you can game-over pretty quickly if you're trapped in a room filled with goons. The items that you collect as you open the treasure chests are cryptic, I never know wat they can be used for....
Ratings (out of *****)
Graphics ****
BGM ***
Sound Effects ***
Combat Engine ***
Gameplay *****
Story **
Difficulty ****
Overall ****