Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Persona 4 once again sees you playing a year in the life of a high school student who must juggle not only school work and a social life, but also regular trips to a world crawling with monsters. With some refinement and reworking of the Persona 3 formula, Persona 4 manages to essentially duplicate the success of the previous game, whilst also managing to establish its own unique style.

Inaba

As with Persona 3, the game takes place over a year of in-game time, with each day being divided into several sections. When you’re not attending classes, your time can be spent forging Social Links by attending clubs, doing part-time work or hanging out with friends, or fighting monsters and clearing dungeons in the TV world. Unfortunately, rather than spacing things out more evenly, time management has become even harsher in Persona 4; dungeon-exploration has now been moved to the after school phase, which is also the time of day when most Social Links are available. Worse yet, once you’ve been in the TV world all afternoon, your character is too tired to go out in the evening, effectively preventing you from making any Social Link progress for that entire day.

In the normal world, the protagonist is characterised by various attributes- Knowledge, Diligence, Courage, Understanding and Expression. Levelling these up through study, reading and part-time work is the key to convincing party members and NPCs to build Social Links with you. As with Persona 3, levelling up Social Links through is both important to the story and key to the creation of strong Personas.

As if you didn’t have enough to fill your time, Persona 4 also boasts some extra features to keep you busy for your year in Inaba. The almost ubiquitous fishing mini-game makes itself known here, and is one of the few things you can leave your house to do at night. As you might expect, fish can be exchanged for a selection of rare items and equipment, with the selection on offer changing after each month of game time. For the lazier gamer, other rare items can be bought by ordering from the weekly TV shopping program- and no, I’m not joking about that.

In addition, in place of Elizabeth’s requests in Person 3, this time around, various NPCs will ask you for items that can be found within the TV world. There’s no time limit on these quests, and no penalty for ignoring them, but the rewards are often worth the effort.

TV World

Unlike Persona 3, which put its all into a single, mighty dungeon, Persona 4 is divided into several different worlds, each with a unique look. Within each dungeon, your task is to defeat Shadows and rescue the person who has been abducted into the TV world, all within a few weeks of game time. Fail, and it’s game over- although you will get the chance to go back one week and try again. Fortunately, it’s never too hard to clear a dungeon well within the time limit, which is just as well given that you also need that precious after school and evening time for raising your attributes and strengthening your Social Links.

Each dungeon has a set number of floors with a randomly generated layout and the usual abundance of Shadows. Unlike Persona 3, if you leave the dungeon, you can return to the entrance of the floor you were just exploring, which lessens the feeling that you have to rush through each floor as quickly as possible before a random enemy wipes you out with a simple Hama or Mudo spell. Escaping a dungeon can be done with the item Go Ho-M, the spell Traesto, or by teleporting out from a Save Point. Characters don’t experience fatigue the way they did in Persona 3, but in order to balance that, you no longer recover all your HP and SP upon returning to the TV World entrance. You can recruit a fox who will heal your party for an extortionate price (discounted as you build up your Social Link with it), but even so, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to do excessive levelling up in a single visit to TV World.

The battle system will immediately be familiar to Persona 3 veterans, although this time around there have been some welcome enhancements. Although the main character remains the only one who can switch Personas and decide battle tactics, it is now possible to directly control all other party members. Naturally, this makes battle strategy a lot easier, since you’re no longer hoping for the best each time an ally’s turn comes up.

Those who suffered game over at the hands of a minor enemy who just happened to target your main character with a killing blow will also be glad to know that the system is now a little more forgiving. As you level up your Social Links with other party members, they will become willing to perform support actions in battle, such as following up a critical attack, recovering the status of another character, or, most importantly, taking a death blow in your place.

As in all SMT games, elemental strengths and weaknesses play an important part in the flow of battle. Of course, as in those other games, it is possible for a weak enemy to get the jump on you, target your weakness and thus get enough turns to finish you off, but that’s only to be expected. More importantly, Persona 4 has the guard command that its predecessor lacked, and when a character is guarding, they are no longer susceptible to their weakness. Unfortunately, for all that Persona 4 gives in this department, it also takes away, for now the Analysis ability no longer tells you an enemy’s weakness in advance, meaning you have to discover it by trial and error.

Given that this is a Persona game, it should come as no surprise that the main character has the ability to command multiple Personas. As before, Personas can be obtained after battle during ‘Shuffle Time’ or fused in the Velvet Room, with a wide variety of familiar SMT demons making a return appearance.

Playable characters

Protagonist: Unlike the protagonist of Persona 3, who could equip any weapon that took his fancy, the hero of Persona 4 is limited to swords alone. When it comes to Personas, however, the choice is yours- pick up a varied enough skillset and he’ll be able to handle pretty much anything.

Yosuke Hanamura: A dual wielder of twin kunai, Yosuke has a smattering of physical skills and a mastery of wind magic. As the first ally to join you, he’s incredibly useful early on and remains a solid party member throughout the game.

Chie Satonaka: Although she also has a basic command of ice magic, Chie’s true role is as a physical attacker, with the aid of her flying kicks and luchador Persona. She manages to hold her own early in the game, but later on her lack of magical skills does put her at a severe disadvantage.

Yukiko Amagi: The elegant master of fire and healing magic, Yukiko deserves a place on any team. Her physical attack may not be up to much, but with her high SP, she’ll rarely need to fall back on it, and can act as both offence and support thanks to her magical repertoire.

Teddie: Although he acts as support at first, Teddie eventually gets to join the party, where he proves adept at both healing and ice magic. He makes a nice complement to Yukiko, and is also far too cute to be left on the bench.

Kanji Tatsumi: A supposed delinquent with a warm heart and a secret love of sewing, Kanji is a strong physical attacker with a sideline in lightning magic. He’s a decent enough party member but doesn’t quite match the Yosuke/Yukiko/Teddie combo.

Naoto Shirogane: The final character to join, Naoto specialises in Light, Dark and Almighty attacks, although the latter start off quite weak. Unfortunately, since Light and Dark always have a probability of missing, this means that Naoto doesn’t really have a reliable magic attack to bring out. Certainly the distribution of abilities here seems less favourable than it did in Persona 3.

Rise Kujikawa (support): Although just as annoying as Fuuka, Rise is slightly less useful in terms of her Analysis abilities. At least she looks nice in a swimsuit.

Story

Although not as dark in tone as its predecessor, Persona 4 is still quite a convoluted tale, weaving together the issues and insecurities of enemies and allies alike. Although there are a few too many twists and turns to make for a solid, coherent narrative, at least the characters are likeable enough to be sympathetic. Be careful, though, as one wrong move at the end of December can see you catapulted straight into the bad ending before you even realise it.

Audiovisual

Where Persona 3 was dark blue and violet, film noir mixed with comic book, Persona 4 takes on a completely different look and feel. The predominant colour of the menus is a bright, blinding yellow, whilst the sleepy town of Inaba has a very countrified feel. Gekkoukan High School may have had a modern feel with its neutral colours, but in contrast Yasogami High is more retro with its wooden desks and flooring. It’s good that the game has managed to forge its own distinct identity, but as a matter of personal preference, I’d rather be in the world of Persona 3.

Music is once again composed by the talented Shoji Meguro, who manages to retain his signature style whilst infusing this new set of tracks with their own unique flavour. Since the game comes with a soundtrack CD, you’re free to revisit the best of the game’s music at any time.

Final Thoughts

Although it doesn’t quite match up to Persona 3 in terms of style and story, Persona 4 still has the trademark addictive qualities of any Shin Megami Tensei, and will provide plenty of hours of gameplay for RPG fans. A recommended purchase.

Alph, his brother Theo and their friends are wards of the Luminous Church, trained to protect the light and condemn the dark. The Church’s greatest foes are the Witches, but when Alph discovers that their new maid, Lucia, is a Witch, he is forced to re-evaluate his opinions of them. With the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance, Alph must choose carefully between the doctrine he has always been taught and the true motives of the Witches.

A hidden gem amidst the vast market of SRPGs and DS games, Luminous Arc may not be the most challenging of games, but it nonetheless makes for an enjoyable and well presented experience from start to finish. Players take on the role of aspiring knight Alph, a young man who goes from fighting minor monsters to commanding a team of witches and warriors on a quest to save the world. It’s all very straightforward, but thanks to some attractive character designs and a pervading aura of simple charm, Luminous Arc manages to be than just one more nameless face in the crowd.

The Luminous Church versus the evil Witches

A fusion of SRPG and visual novel, Luminous Arc takes place over twenty-five or so chapters, each consisting of framing dialogues and a few battles. It’s largely a safe and on-the-rails experience which keeps you where it wants you- but whilst the game rarely presents any real challenge to the seasoned gamer, it’s still a lot of fun.

Battles take place on the familiar SRPG grid, with characters taking turns according to their speed. The battle system largely remains on solid, well trodden ground- there’s the usual range of magic and melee attacks, with terrain, position relative to the enemy and elemental attributes all contributing to the effectiveness of your warriors. Each action that you take naturally earns EXP, and since it only takes 100EXP to level up, it’s rarely necessary to grinding. Characters are also healed to maximum HP/MP each time they level up, which means you never really need to worry about playing cautiously and conserving your resources.

Since standard attacks are adequate but rarely devastating enough to make a dent in a boss’ HP, the game compensates with a system of Drive Points, which are accumulated as characters dish out damage to the enemy or heal each other. Given enough Drive Points, characters can either perform overpowered attacks known as Flash Drives, or really let loose with Synergy Attacks, in which two or more allies combine their power to really drive the point home to the enemy. Most of these abilities are learnt as part of the storyline, and whilst they are certainly massive damage dealers, it does take long enough to charge them that you can’t just breeze through the game on special attacks alone.

That being said, aside from a handful of tough battles, Luminous Arc is never that difficult- there are even features of the game, such as the ability to enhance weapons with different crystals, that can be completely ignored. In fact, the main source of difficulty in the game arises from its imperfect interface- although not a substantial problem, the fixed camera angle and lack of ability to simultaneously use the stylus and d-pad (you have to toggle between them) means that, in crowded situations, it can be difficult to pick out the correct target for your attacks. And since the game lets you target allies as well as enemies when planning an attack, this flaw can easily become very frustrating.

After each battle, Alph is given the chance to talk to another party member in an ‘Intermission’ scene- a short interaction in which you can improve his standing with his allies. As with visual novels, selecting the correct response to a character’s question is the key to getting them to like you, and if you can charm them sufficiently, they will even give you gifts. The game is also interspersed with scenes depicting the life and woes of the mascot character ‘Kopin’- these are mildly amusing but add little to the game overall.

Playable Characters

Alph: As the main character, Alph is the typical all-rounder with decent but not outstanding strength and speed. His basic weapon is, predictably enough, a sword, but he can also use a gun for ranged special attacks. Due to his average nature, Alph lags behind early in the game, but you’ll be forced to bring him up to scratch when confronted with a one-on-one battle against Arc Knight Heath. Naturally, since he’s compulsory in every battle, Alph eventually becomes a solid contributor to the team’s offence.

Theo: Arc’s younger brother, Theo is an archer with an average but useful ranged attack. As the game progresses, he also learns some short range Flash Drives, although with the amount of short-range attackers already available, this may seem a little surplus to requirements. He’s a decent party member to have early on, but you may wish to drop him in the later stages of the game.

Leon: The typical overpowered swordsman and son of ‘The Lion King’ (no, not the Disney one), Leon is excellent at short-range attacks, but brings little else to the party. He’s a useful choice if you want muscle on your side, but is pretty much interchangeable with Kai, Heath or Mavi in the later stages of the game.

Cecille: The obligatory healer of the group, Cecille is definitely useful, but her low movement range means that she often gets left behind when the party goes on the offensive. Later in the game, she learns offensive magic as well as stronger healing spells, making her far more useful. Unsurprisingly, her physical abilities never amount to much.

Saki: As a ninja, it comes as no surprise that Saki is the fastest character, with an appropriately high movement stat and a variety of melee and ranged attacks. Whilst this makes her invaluable for getting the drop on the enemy, it also means that she can get stranded amongst hostile units without backup. Nonetheless, she is an extremely useful team member, although her elemental attacks quickly become ineffectual.

Kai: A wandering samurai, Kai adds some much appreciated muscle to the team with his overpowered close-range attacks. He does major damage in the front lines, but you could equally go with beefing up Leon or Heath to take his place.

Heath: An Arc Knight, Heath is a powerhouse at the start of the game, but after leaving early on, he only returns near the end. By this point, although he is a perfectly acceptable addition to the party, you’ll probably have already decided on your favourite team, leaving him to languish on the back benches.

Lucia: The Dawn Witch, Lucia has some useful magical abilities, but somehow she never manages to be as strong as the hard-hitters on the team. She’s useful to bring along for her Flash Drives and Synergy attacks, however, and she’s also important to the storyline.

Vivi: The laid-back and eternally sleepy Vivi has one major advantage in battle- her flying carpet can traverse any and all terrain with ease. Unfortunately, even when she brings the fight to the enemy, she isn’t that strong, so whilst her magical lamp has some useful sniping abilities, she’s more of a supporting member than a first choice for the battlefield.

Mavi: she may be the Nature Witch, but Mavi’s magical skill is nothing to write home about. Instead, she is far more at home in close combat, where her fists can deal out some serious damage. Unfortunately, putting her on the front lines does mean she tends to take more damage than she can handle. Nonetheless, she makes for a worthy team member.

Vanessa: The Witch of Immolation (apparently ‘Fire Witch’ was too plain a title), Vanessa fights against you for much of the game, but eventually joins up in the later chapters. Since she’s kickass in both physical and magical attacks, she makes for a welcome addition to the team when she finally comes over to your side.

Pollon: Sometimes you come across a character who just leaves you wondering why the creators bothered to include them at all- and Pollon is a perfect example of this. Some sort of anthropomorphic white seal creature with dreams of becoming a knight, Pollon is yet another short-range attacker with minimal impact on the plot and no real reason to be included as a playable character. I used him a little when he first joined up, but with the likes of Leon, Mavi, Kai and Heath to choose from, it’s unclear why you would ever bother with him.

Mel: The Torrent Witch, Mel is a master of water magic, but her weak lily pad attacks and restricted movement range makes her a less than desirable choice for the team.

Claire: The Thunder Witch, Claire is an average an unremarkable warrior who is useful for Synergy and making up the numbers, but isn’t particularly outstanding otherwise.

Story

Although the bare bones of Luminous Arc’s story is the basic tale of plucky heroes versus an ancient evil, the game has the tendency to shoehorn in pointless backstory for its many characters. This leads to a few too many “By the way, I’m deeply bitter about the fact that my previously-unmentioned home village was destroyed, but now let’s get on with the quest.” There’s also a feeling of being divorced from the action, as important scenes often occur without any kind of distinguishing CG artwork.

The game does at least have the sense not to take itself too seriously however, with plenty of lighthearted banter making up for its other weaknesses.

Audiovisual

One regard in which Luminous Arc really does stand out from the crowd is in its character designs, which have been given a surprisingly amount of detail for a DS title. Battle sprites are cute and overall the game has am aesthetically pleasing look and feel. The music is solid if not outstanding, with a smattering of average quality voice-acted scenes.

Final Thoughts

Although it’s not a contender for the top ranks, Luminous Arc is an enjoyable little SRPG that deserves to be given a little more attention. It may not be the most challenging or ground-breaking title ever, but despite its flaws, it’s a whole lot of fun.

When Sora briefly became a Heartless in the original Kingdom Hearts, the remainder of his self created his Nobody- Roxas. And for the year that Sora was asleep after the events of Chain of Memories, Roxas was recruited as a member of Organisation XIII, who hoped that his unique ability among Nobodies to wield a Keyblade would enable him to gather the hearts they need. A blank slate with no memory of his past, Roxas is swiftly put to work carrying out missions for the Organisation alongside his friends Axel and Xion. But in the Organisation, even your closest friends can have deep and dark secrets, as Roxas will slowly but surely discover.

Organisation XIII

An attempt to milk the franchise fill in the Organisation’s side of the events that transpired between Kingdom Hearts I and II, 358/2 Days does what the fangirls always wanted by putting Roxas in the driving seat in this pleasingly solid addition to a growing series. As always, you’ll be controlling a Keyblade wielder as they visit worlds based on various Disney films, albeit this time on Nintendo’s trusty handheld.

Taking place over the titular 358 days of game time (not that you’ll be awake for all of those days), 358/2 Days is entirely mission based, mixing in quests that advance the story with simple monster and treasure hunts spread amongst various familiar locales. The worlds available this time around are Twilight Town, Beast’s Castle, Agrabah, the Olympus Coliseum, Neverland, Halloween Town and Wonderland, all of which you’ll become eminently familiar with as mission after mission dispatches you to this handful of locales. Fortunately, even if you’ve visited them before in previous Kingdom Hearts games, they have been laid out well enough to ensure that whilst you might not come away with any enduring love for these locales, you won’t feel that same sense of irritation and vague sickness that plagued the very first Kingdom Hearts game.

In typical Kingdom Hearts tradition, most missions will see you accompanied by an AI-controlled character- although instead of the usual Disney personalities, this time around your allies are the members of Organisation XIII. The missions are pretty much what you expect, with goals varying from gathering information by running round and exploring an area to defeating minor enemies and boss monsters. A few of the battles are tough and the search/stealth aspects of some missions can be a bit frustrating, but mostly it won’t prove too challenging to seasoned RPG veterans.

Although the standard missions in Story Mode are offered in a pretty much on-the-rails manner, it is also possible to go above and beyond the minimum required to complete them in an attempt to earn additional bonuses. The game also records whether or not you’ve opened every treasure chest on a mission, with completists offered all sorts of rewards, such as the option of being able to play as Sora in Mission Mode (more on that shortly). You can even unlock Challenge missions, where tasks must be completed with additional restrictions such as time limits or not taking a hit. It’s as repetitive as it sounds, but it does at least mean that there’ll be something for you to do any time you decide to return to the game after finishing it.

When it comes to skills, upgrades and levelling up, everything in 358/2 Days is handled by the panel system. As you fight battles, your experience goes not towards direct levelling up, but to expanding a grid into which various panels can be placed. ‘Level Up’ panels are needed to increase your level- unequip them and it’s back to level one for you- whilst all kinds of skills, magic and weapon upgrades all require their own panels. It’s a reasonable system overall, although f having to level up via panel seems a little pointless for everyone who doesn’t want to attempt completing the entire game at level one.

For those who don’t want to play as Roxas all the time, there is also a separate Mission Mode in which you can play individual missions in one or two player mode as other members of Organisation XIII (with the option to unlock Sora, Donald and Goofy later on). Whilst it is an interesting novelty to finally be able to play as these characters, it’s disappointing that they can’t be used in the main game.

Story

If there is one iconic image to be taken away from the cutscenes of 358/2 Days, it is the sight of Roxas, Axel and Xion eating sea salt ice cream. In between all that, the game does try to provide a story that fills in a gap in the timeline of the other games. A new character is introduced in the form of Xion, the fourteenth member of Organisation XIII, but overall the plot isn’t much to write home about, and is probably only of interest to true devotees of the KH franchise.

Presentation

Unfortunately, 358/2 Days was succeeded by the PSP Birth By Sleep, which only served to show up the DS entry in the series as the poor cousin graphically. The visuals are adequate, but not to the levels of other games in the series. The background music is much the same as that of all the other games in the series.

Final Thoughts

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a good game, but unfortunately it doesn’t really excel in any area. It will provide a solid chunk of entertainment, but whilst there is nothing really to complain about, nor is there anything that elevates it above the average RPG. A fun game, but not one that will go down in the annals of gaming history.

Legend tells that when the land falls into ruin, four Warriors of Light will come forth, each bearing an Elemental Orb. Now, in the Kingdom of Cornelia, the ancient prophecy has finally been fulfilled, as four youthful warriors prepare to rescue their princess from the grips of the evil knight Garland. What they don’t realise is that this is just the start of a journey that will take them across the world and into confrontation with the dark god Chaos.

Given Square-Enix’s propensity for making remakes, and then remaking those remakes, it is no wonder that the original entry in their flagship series would travel from NES to PSOne to GBA and now to PSP. And along the way it has been given a complete graphical overhaul, making the idea of returning to the simplicity of nameless generics fighting enemies and restoring elemental crystals far more attractive than it might otherwise be.

Legend of the Crystals

In an age of increasing complex battle systems and new takes on the genre, Final Fantasy takes us back to what things were like in the good old days when petrol was cheap and a pound coin could get you a portion of chips, an ice cream, a cinema ticket and still leave you enough change for the bus ride home. Back in these days of heady simplicity, all an RPG had do in order to become legendary was give you four generic heroes to name, and have you traipse across a world of villages and dungeons, buying the weapons, armour and magic you need to grind your way through wave upon wave of randomly generated enemies.

At the start of the game, you get to name and customise your characters, which basically consists of picking a class for each of them out of six classes- Warrior, Thief, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage and Red Mage. Unlike later Final Fantasy games, you can’t change jobs midway through the game (although all of these jobs will upgrade to more powerful versions), so it’s important to start off with a balanced group. From this point onwards, your characters will assume the roles of the four Warriors of Light, and it will be your job to travel across the monster-infested world restoring the magical crystals and thus righting the balance of nature.

Everything about the game is pretty straightforward; at any given point, you’ll either be fighting random enemies in dungeons, stocking up on items and equipment in town, or just wandering around the world map trying to find your next destination. There are a handful of tricky enemies, but no real curveballs in terms of difficulty, so the overall experience (sans optional dungeons) will only run to around 8-10 hours, meaning you’ll be done before the nostalgia wears off and tedium starts setting in.

If that isn’t enough for you, however, there are also four bonus elemental dungeons, best attempted once your characters reach a high level. Unfortunately, there is a sting in the tail for anyone attempting to complete all of these dungeons; at the bottom of each one, there are several bosses, but each time you defeat one of the bosses, you get automatically teleported out and have to work your way back down again. Maybe this will satisfy hardcore games, but even my masochistic streak doesn’t run deep enough to make me want to grind through the same 30 level dungeon multiple times.

Story

As you might expect, Final Fantasy isn’t going to win any awards for its story, which is generic in pretty much every respect. Still, if you ever want a template for making your own RPG, I guess you could use this as a starting point.

Presentation

FFI PSP’s greatest appeal quite possibly stems from the fact that the game has been completely graphically overhauled for its latest rerelease. Whilst it must always be argued that looks aren’t everything, the fact that the old 8-bit graphics have been replaced with attractive sprites, monsters and background helps to revitalise what would otherwise just be a poor-looking, generic throwback to a past era. The character sprites are particularly pleasing, but effort has been put into giving every aspect of the game a fresh look which improves even on the efforts of previous remakes. Similarly, the in game music has been remixed, ensuring that it doesn’t sound aged and tinny.

Final Thoughts

Although it might have been considered an epic title in its time, even a classic game like Final Fantasy needs a bit of repackaging to sell it to a sophisticated modern audience, and luckily this shiny new remake achieves just that. It may be a far cry from the breadth of RPGs available to us today, but it still makes for a worthy burst of nostalgic fun that wraps up well before it outstays its welcome.

High atop the Tower of Ar Tonelico, the inhabitants of the city of Platina live a life of peace and technological advancement- at least until the day when they are beset by attacks from mysterious viruses. On the order of Lady Shurelia, Lyner Barsett, a young knight of Elemia, is sent to the lower world to retrieve the Hymn Crystal Purger, an item necessary for the defence of the city. When Lyner’s airship crashes, however, he is forced to ally with the people of the less developed lower world in an attempt to find both the crystal and a way back home.

Created by Gust, the company responsible for the addictive Atelier games, Ar Tonelico is just what you would expect from them- a mixture of RPG and visual novel elements with a healthy dash of alchemy thrown in for good measure. Although it is destined to always be a niche title, the addictiveness of Ar Tonelico should not be underestimated.

The World of Elemia
In overall structure, the world of Ar Tonelico is much the same as any other RPG, consisting of a world map with selectable towns and dungeons, more of which unlock as the game progresses. The world of the game is split into two parts- the surface world (aka the Wings of Horus), a typical low level fantasy setting, and the more technologically advanced tower of Ar Tonelico, which stretches up into space. Due to the demands of the story, areas you’ve already visited often become unavailable for long stretches, or have to be accessed through roundabout dungeon routes.

Rather than being one continuous whole, towns and cities are presented as menus from which you can pick a particular shop or street. The opportunities for shopping are extensive in towns, whilst important NPCs such as Grathnode Crystal seller Spica or item hunter Lyra are always worth visiting for the services they provide.

As with Atelier Iris 2, battles in dungeons are random, but limited by a gauge that empties out as you fight battles and resets whenever you leave an area. Once again, this feature is welcome, as it ensures that if you’ve been running around for ages, you can retrace your steps without having to worry about tedious levels of combat. The dungeon map feature of Atelier Iris 3 and Mana Khemia is also present, and, as expected, it proves to be a useful inclusion.

The most important factor that distinguishes Ar Tonelico from Gust’s other titles is the inclusion of Reyvateils, beautiful girls who weave magic with their songs. As well as being important to the story, Reyvateils play a key role in the game’s battle system, wielding as they do both offensive and defensive magic from the back row (more on that later). Reyvateils also provide the game’s equivalent of action commands, enabling you to fire off different elemental shots in the field- an ability that’s vital for opening doors and breaking obstacles in the field. Reyvateils are also key to the non-RPG side to the game, providing a visual novel type experience through the process of ‘diving’ into their Cosmospheres.

If the last sentence seems like little more than gibberish to you, then fear not, for all is about to be explained. The three Reyvateil girls in the game each have a Cosmosphere- effectively a world created from the feelings in their souls. As Lyner gains the trust of the girls in the real world, he is able to enter this Cosmophere and use DP accumulated in battle to enter different locations within and help the girls get over their various issues and hangups. Effectively, these
are self-contained visual novels in which you experience scenes with minimal player input, but they mark Ar Tonelico out as being different from the average RPG.

The Cosmosphere is more than just an interesting diversion, however- it also brings rewards that will make your Reyvateil more effective in battle. As you explore the Cosmosphere, the Reyvateil will become more confident in her abilities, crafting new spells for use in battle and also gaining more costumes to wear in combat. Although the costumes are arguably little more than eye candy (and very nice eye candy at that), they also have the useful effect of boosting a Reyvateil’s stats when equipped.

Another important method of interacting with Reyvateils is through night-time conversations at inns. Conversation topics are unlocked by proceeding through the game or visiting certain areas, and will be available any time you rest overnight. Conversations are an important aspect of the visual novel side of the game, helping to open up deeper levels of the Cosmosphere.

The world of Ar Tonelico is replete with Grathnode Crystals, multi-purpose items that can enhance every aspect of your party. The various types of crystal can be installed in weapons, armour, accessories and even the Reyvateils themselves, where they increase stats, boost magic or add special effects to both attack and defence.

As to be expected from a Gust game, Ar Tonelico also boasts its own alchemy system, known as Grathmelding. Using both Grathnode crystals and various ingredients collected from battles and treasure chests, all kinds of useful items can be synthesised- some of which will be familiar to long-time Atelier series players. In a pleasant change from Mana Khemia and the Atelier Iris series, the frustrations of realising you have to synthesise intermediate ingredients before you can make your desire item is also taken care of- if you don’t have those ingredients but are able to synthesise them, the game will prompt you to go ahead and do just that. There is also the amusing but useless option to rename the items you synthesise according to the somewhat bizarre whims of your Reyvateils.

Battle
The basic battle system of Ar Tonelico is based on that of Atelier Iris 2-3; characters and enemies are represented by cards that move along a time bar, each taking their turn when they reach the end. The key difference is that in this game Reyvateils play a key role in combat; unlike your regular three party members, your active Reyvateil sits in the back row and can take her turn at any time. At this point, you can command your Reyvateil to power up her song magic- the longer you leave her to it, the more powerful the end result will be, but the more her MP will be drained (and if it reaches zero, the spell fails). In the case of attack magic, you can let it charge as much as you like before releasing the spell onto your unsuspecting enemies, whilst defensive magic continuously powers up your team until you cancel the spell or run out of MP. MP can be restored either through item use or simply by letting your Reyvateil rest.

Atelier Iris players will also recognise the return of the Burst Gauge (now known as the Harmonics Gauge), although in this game it works somewhat differently. As both the front line warriors and Reyvateil attack the enemy, the gauge will fill from both ends, and when the two sides meet, your party becomes more in sync, powering them up (attacks from enemies act to deplete this effect). Performing attack magic also activates ‘Harmocrystals’- having these in play enables your front line attackers to access their own special skills, which usually involve depleting HP to perform powerful attacks.

Although being in the back row largely protects your Reyvateil from the fray, there are times when enemies will perform specific attacks that target a Reyvateil. When this happens, you will be given some warning and the chance to use up to three of your front line attackers to guard your Reyvateil before they take some serious damage. If you have a Harmocrystal in play, you can also trigger a counterattack that will make the enemy think twice about striking back.

Overall, battles in Ar Tonelico can often be lengthy affairs, but they are rarely difficult- and even if you find them a bit tedious at first, once your Reyvateils start learning more powerful skills, you’ll breeze through much of the game in no time.

Playable characters
Lyner Barsett: the main character, sword-wielding Lyner is a permanent fixture on the front line. A typical good all-rounder, he excels at physical attacks but also has one magic-based skill to call upon for tougher enemies.
Aurica Nestmile: A shy and detached Reyvateil, Aurica is a low-class member of the Church who has come to distrust people. As she gets over her various issues and hang-ups, she learns to craft powerful attack magic, and is also quick to learn healing skills.
Misha Arsellec Lune: Trapped in the body of a loli for the first part of the game, Reyvateil Misha eventually gains access to both child and adult bodies, each with different costume transformations. Although her initial specialty is thunder magic and she is slow to learn healing skills, she proves a useful presence throughout the game.
Lady Shurelia: A powerful Reyvateil, Lady Shurelia is not playable until later in the game, and her skillset is both powerful and limited.
Jack Hamilton: A sharpshooter with an eye for the ladies and a mechanical arm, Jack is not the strongest of attackers, but he is very swift.
Krusche Elendia: A talented mechanic who wants to search for her intrepid boyfriend, Krusche carries a chainsaw into battle. She is a weak attacker, but is the only non-Reyvateil to have a healing skill- a useful asset early in the game but somewhat outclassed later on.
Radolf Schnaizen: A strong but slow spear user, Radolf is a Cardinal of the Church. He is a powerhouse in battle.
Ayatane Michitaka: A swift katana user, Ayatane is not as strong as one would expect, but is still a solid character to have on your side- when he’s fighting with you and not against you, that is.

Story
Ar Tonelico is a game of three phases, with both multiple routes and a selection of different endings. Phase One plays out the same regardless of what you do, whilst Phase Two can go two completely different ways depending on whether you choose Misha or Aurica’s path. At the end of Phase Two, you can finish the game there and then, or carry on into Phase Three where further endings are possible. Of course, I hate having to choose between one girl or another, but at least I know that the game has plenty of new material to offer me when I finally get around to replaying it.

As you might expect, the visual novel aspects of the game move it beyond the standard RPG fare, injecting additional character development into what would otherwise be a typical tale of a hero and his harem fighting an ancient evil. In addition, whether by accident or design, the dialogue is laced with double entendres, such as the following hilarious scene:

Aurica: It’s about an install. Will you install in me?
Lyner: Aurica!?
Aurica: I’m so much weaker than average Reyvateils…and I don’t want to cause you any more trouble. It’s the least I can do… Besides…I’ll try my best as long as I’m with you…
Lyner: ..What?
Aurica: You’re the only person I feel comfortable enough to ask. So, please?
Lyner: Alright, but are you sure about this? I don’t want to force you.
Aurica: I don’t mind. To be honest, I’m a little scared, since I’ve heard that it hurts when you push it in… But if I overcome my fear, I can get stronger. It makes me happy knowing I can help you. Please don’t make it too painful.
Lyner: I’ll do my best.
Aurica: Thanks, Lyner. You’re so kind. If you don’t have a Grathnode Crystal, use this. It’s not as effective, but doesn’t hurt as much going in.

Audiovisual
Visually, Ar Tonelico is in line with other Gust PS2 titles in its attractive but low key graphical elements. The in-game sprites are cute, whilst character artwork is aesthetically pleasing and in keeping with the visual novel style the game’s dialogue sections aim to emulate. There are also a few animated scenes, but don’t let this whet your appetite for more, as the Ar Tonelico OVA is predictably disappointing.

From the sweeping opening theme right through to the end credits, Ar Tonelico is filled with worthy musical tracks in the usual lyrical Gust style, with a few bizarre yet oddly effectively rap style tracks thrown in for good measure. The English voices are the usual average fare, but fortunately the superior Japanese audio is available, although in one of the animated cutscenes the dialogue gratingly cut back to English.

Final Thoughts
It may not be perfect, but in Ar Tonelico Gust have again demonstrated their expertise in creating thoroughly absorbing character driven RPGs. Action-orientated fans may chafe at the integrated visual novel style elements, but those looking for a more immersive experience will have great fun with this unique title.

Seven years before the fateful events of Final Fantasy VII, one of the unsung heroes of that tale was facing problems of his own. Together with the legendary SOLDIER members Sephiroth and Angeal, SOLDIER Second Class Zack Fair is sent on a mission to recover Genesis, a former SOLDIER First Class who went rogue and turned against the Shinra Corporation. Determined to prove himself a true hero, Zack throws himself into his work, but he soon realises that there is far more going on behind the scenes than he ever suspected.

Given the amount of spin-offs now flooding the market, it doesn’t so much seem as if Square-Enix are flogging a dead horse so much as they’re flaying an elephant that is slowly sinking to its knees. Amidst all the dross and cheap cashing in, however, there are a few occasions when it’s no bad thing to jump on the bandwagon- and Crisis Core happens to be one of them.

Milking the franchise

Casting players in the role of the ill-fated Zack Fair, Crisis Core is one of Square-Enix’s more successful attempts to implement a more action-based battle system (Star Ocean good, FFXII bad). The story proceeds linearly across a series of chapters that fill in the gaps as regards Zack’s career, his relationships with Sephiroth, Aerith and Cloud and his eventual fate.

In battle, Zack has the usual menu of options available to him- he can execute sword attacks, block, dodges and use the usual array of Final Fantasy items. And naturally, since this is the world of FF7, he can also equip materia to give him a range of magic, command and support abilities. The system is solid, fast and furious, but on its own it wouldn’t be quite enough to make the game as addictive as it is.

On top of the basic system, the game also adds the confusingly named Digital Mind Wave (DMW), a set of three spinning reels bearing both numbers and the faces of important NPCs in the game. Powered by Soldier Points (SP) accumulated in battle, the DMW periodically stops, and, as with a conventional slot machine, the aim is to get three of a kind. Getting two or three of the same number activates special effects such as being able to cast magic for zero MP cost, or temporary immunity to getting knocked down, but the real reward comes when you match three character faces. Doing so activates a limit break related to that character- for example, Aerith provides healing and temporarily invincibility, whilst Sephiroth empowers Zack to perform a powerful multi-hit attack.

That’s not all the DMW has to offer, however; over time, it also gains Summon Mode, in which Ifrit, Shiva and selected other FF summons can make an appearance to deal out damage, and a special Chocobo Mode, where the FF ‘mascot’ characters such as Chocobo and Moogle create special effects. The DMW is also responsible for levelling up both Zack and his materia, which adds an element of chance that makes conventional grinding pointless.

When it comes to getting geared up for a mission, everything is taken care of within the menu screen- even the shops are hidden away there. For story reasons, Zack cannot change his weapon, but he is free to customise his accessory and materia setup as the player wishes. After a certain point, you also gain the ability to fuse materia, a useful ability which enables you to access powerful magic which is unavailable in the shops.

If the linearity of the main game disappoints you, then fear not, because the game has plenty in the way of optional missions, complete with a full range of rewards. Unfortunately, the sheen of this additional mode soon wears off, because in the end, they are all much the same. With so much else packed onto the UMD, there seem to be room for only a handful of maps on which missions take place, and all of them consist of battling through monsters to get to a boss enemy who must be defeated to clear the mission. And although it’s easy to initially be fooled into thinking encounters are random when on missions, you’ll soon realise that they’re triggered when Zack steps on particular spots on the map- even if you just defeated a monster in that exact place mere seconds earlier! By the time your enemies get strong enough to start spamming cheap instant death attacks, you’ll have mastered the art of hugging the walls to avoid fighting anything except the mission boss. The fact that you can’t even grind to level up for a particular mission makes the process all the more painful.

Story: we know how it must end

There aren’t that many games out there where you know that the hero is going to die an ignominious death at the end, but as anyone even vaguely acquainted with the FF7 franchise will realise, Crisis Core is one of them. The later chapters of Zack’s story are as well known as they are depressing, but in addition to that, the game also comes up with its own story that segues into the tale of Cloud’s struggle against Sephiroth in the original game.

To that end, Crisis Core expands upon the ‘One Winged Angel’ theme, introducing two more legendary SOLDIERs to stand alongside Sephiroth- the brilliant and poetic Genesis and Zack’s mentor, the stoic Angeal. Both stand at the centre of a tale of dark experiments, alien cells and false copies- and if you thought making logical sense of the original FF7 story was hard enough, you’ll be tying yourself into knots trying to make some kind of vaguely logical sense of the events of Crisis Core. It’s certainly several grades above the pointlessness of Advent Children, but if you don’t want to succumb to the same madness that claims Genesis and Sephiroth, just accept it as pure hokum from the outset.

That being said, the game does do rather well at characterisation- as the heart of the story, Zack is likeable rather than generic, and his untimely end is none the less poignant for being completely unsurprisingly. Both established characters and the ones introduced for this game are painted in bold, vibrant strokes- they may not always be the most complex of personalities, but you’ll enjoy spending time with them.

Audiovisual

Technology has come a long way since 1997, so much so that a handheld game of today such as Crisis Core looks a lot better than the once groundbreaking console title that is Final Fantasy 7. The game looks good and plays smoothly, with the only problem being that the disk space taken up by the lavish cut scenes is what forces the game to have so few map environments in which to set its many missions.

In both visuals and music, the game stays true to the style and atmosphere of the original whilst giving the presentation a once-over so that it doesn’t feel dated. Familiar locations such as Midgar and Nibelheim have been recreated well, whilst the soundtrack mixes in new material with updates of familiar themes such as a rock version of the original’s boss music, now used for epic battles against summoned monsters.

Final Thoughts

Although it’s easy to accuse it of being the latest in a long line of lazy Square-Enix cash-ins, Crisis Core is in fact an enjoyable game to play. If it can make an old cynic like me feel nostalgic for the days when FF7 was the last word in RPGs, it must be doing something right.

On a normal day, three teenagers go to visit their teacher at Shinjuku Medical Centre- completely unaware of the events that will befall them. A cataclysmic event known as ‘The Conception’ transforms Tokyo into a Vortex World filled with demons and illuminated by the cold light of Kagutsuchi. Only a handful of humans survive to see this new and horrific world, including one of the three teenagers, who is granted the demonic powers he will need to survive and find his friends.

The Vortex World

SMT Nocturne sees you take on the role of the nameless hero (I chose to call him Ryuki Takeshi, and will refer to him as such from hereon in) who is given demonic powers and cast adrift to survive in a radically transformed version of Tokyo. From this point onwards, the game can be considered a somewhat dark and twisted version of Pokemon- you fight demons, recruit them to your side, and employ them in battles as you traverse this new world to find your friends.

Of course, this is no easy task, and as you wander expanses of the Vortex World, you will have to develop a liking for long, maze-like dungeons, many involving puzzle elements. You’ll be dropping through holes in the floor, getting teleported back and forth and generally finding yourself fed up with more than a few areas as you try to navigate them. Add in darkened areas and floors that can damage you (although both effects can be countered), and you will come to understand that even before you factor in battles, this game involves no small amount of commitment. Don’t get me wrong- for hardcore RPGs it’s par for the course and all good fun, but it’s definitely a game that requires no small level of patience and commitment.

The life of a demi-fiend

Battle is the flesh and blood of SMT: Nocturne, which uses an earlier implementation of the Press Turn system that also appeared in the Digital Devil Saga series. The basic idea is exactly the same: you get one turn icon per party member, with most actions consuming one icon, misses and voided attacks consuming two and criticals or passes consuming a mere half icon. The difference here is that characters take turns in order of their agility, rather than formation order- a subtle alteration that can have quite a big effect on tactics.

Of course, you aren’t going to want to fight alone (well, most people won’t, anyway), so the first order of business for any new player is to build up their party of loyal servant demons. At the beginning, a Fairy will join you, but for those looking for something more substantial, the good news is that any and every demon in the game is up for grabs. Normal demons can usually be recruited with a mix of bribes and canny negotiating skills, whilst everything up to and including bosses can be fused using the facilities of the Cathedral of Shadows. At the Cathedral, two monsters can be combined to create a new, third being, with many rules governing the process- for example, at full Kagutsuchi, a sacrifice can be offered to power up the resulting demon even more, whilst special demon types known as Elements and Mitama can be used to increase a demon’s rank or stats respectively. The possibilities are almost endless, and they must be used to their fullest to outfit a killer team.

Having a crack team of bloodthirsty demons does come with its drawbacks, however. Only Ryuki is able to replace demonic party members, use items and equip custom skills (more on this in a moment), making him the linchpin around which the whole operation must function. Given that it’s also game over if Ryuki dies, you can imagine that there’s more than one situation where you’re relying on Ryuki as healer, demon summoner and main attacker whilst everyone else has to just twiddle their thumbs. Luckily, this unequal balance was addressed in the DDS games, and by playing this one, you can see exactly why things needed to be changed.

When it comes to skills, demons have a pre-set pattern of learning particular skills as they level up, as well as a random chance of asking to change an existing skill- a risky gamble if you accept, since a useful skill could become something completely pointless. If you want to introduce new skills to your demons, you’ll have to experiment with fusion, although again there is an element of chance to this.

On the other hand, you can control exactly which skills Ryuki learns, but don’t expect that to make matters easier. Our hero learns skills by ingesting Magatama; not only does each one impart a unique stat bonus, but as he levels up, he can learn its innate skills, effectively giving him the entire range of magical, physical and support skills to choose from. Great, I hear you say, except of course that there’s a catch- you can only retain eight skills at any one time. If you choose to keep one ability at the expense of another, the discarded skill is lost forever- regardless of how much you might want, need or desire it later in the game.

Back in the field, the world you find yourself in is now controlled by the phases of Kagutsuchi- the mysterious light that appeared in the sky when the Vortex World was created. Kagutsuchi has eight phases from ‘New’ to ‘Full’, and it goes back and forth between them as you wander the world. The phase of Kagutsuchi is important to various puzzles in the game, whilst it also affects demon negotiations and fusion, especially at ‘Full’ status.

On top of all the puzzle solving you’ll have to do just to get around Nocturne’s many and vast dungeons, the game also comes with an infamous optional puzzle that involves manipulating blocks- an interesting diversion at first, but one that becomes increasingly frustrating as you struggle through its twenty consecutive levels. After dedicating the better part of a day to solving level 1-19 without help and then being forced to resort to looking up the answer to level 20 before I had to go out, it is no wonder that this is a particularly painful aspect of the game that still continues to haunt me.

An even more intense but far more rewarding optional aspect to the game is the Labyrinth of Amala, a complex five level dungeon that is progressively unlocked by fighting Fiend bosses and obtaining their Candelabra. Filled with puzzles and tough monsters, the Labyrinth is a great place for levelling up and offers plenty of rewards, including the chance to recruit Devil May Cry’s Dante as a party member. Completing the Labyrinth also alters the ending of the game, forcing you to fight a ‘final final’ boss after the regular final boss, and showing you a unique scene that isn’t really worth all the effort put into obtaining it. Still, completionists won’t be able to stop themselves from exploring the full extent of the Labyrinth.

If all that still isn’t enough for you, however, then you’ll be pleased to learn that there’s more to do. If fighting the game’s many bosses just once wasn’t enough, you can also revisit the ‘memory’ of battling them, complete with the challenge of trying to defeat them within a certain number of Press Turns. Luckily, this feature can be completely ignored, but it’s there for the more dedicated player.

Story

As one would expect from the Shin Megami Tensei series, Nocturne offers a dark, apocalyptic tale filled with demons and references to mythology- it certainly isn’t as complex as the worlds of Persona and Digital Devil Saga, but it’s solid enough to make for a decent game. Even discounting the special ending gained by completing the Labyrinth of Amala, the game has multiple conclusions depending on which ‘Reason’ (effectively a philosophy for the new world) your character supports, although they aren’t the kind of endings that drive you to complete the game multiple times just to see them.

Audiovisual

With its functional cel-shaded graphics, Nocturne creates the right look for a dark, monster-filled world, but unfortunately it is beginning to show its age somewhat. The human characters in particular look rather generic and simplistic, although there are some attractive monster designs to make up for it. The background music has the appropriate rock/cyberpunk edge to it and makes for solid listening overall.

Final Thoughts

Although tortuous at times, and certainly a bit rough around the edges compared to the later SMT games, Nocturne’s solid core gameplay ensures that it still a worthy and enjoyable title in its own right. It’s not one for the casual gamer, but the hardcore RPG fan will certainly want to play it and exhaust all the possibilities this game has to offer.

At the prestigious Al-Revis Academy, the best and brightest pursue the study of alchemy, spending their high school years honing this mystical art for the purposes of combat, defence and support. Leaving the forest where he lived alone with his feline best friend Sulpher, Vayne Aurelius enrols at Al-Revis at the behest of one of its teachers; but even as he settles down to school life, a greater power begins to awaken within him.

With the Atelier Iris series having come to a close, Gust’s alchemy games forged ahead by switching to the world of Mana Khemia, in which budding young alchemists spend their high school years learning their trade at Al-Revis Academy. With the trademark alchemy and battle systems carried over from Atelier Iris 3, Mana Khemia also adds its own spin that ensures that the game is more addictive than ever.

Al-Revis Academy

The game begins when Vayne is practically coerced into joining Al-Revis by teacher Zeppel; from thereon out, it’s your duty to attend classes and gain enough credits to pass each term and eventually graduate as a full fledged alchemist. Each school year is divided into four chapters- one for each term and one for the summer holidays, leading to a substantial game length of twelve chapters.

The entirety of the game takes place within the bounds of Al-Revis Academy; campus is a largely safe zone where you can buy items, perform alchemy and so forth, whilst the surrounding areas are monster-filled realms where the risk is high but the rewards are great. The centre of your adventure will be your workshop- the place where you and your allies gather to interact and perform alchemy- but by the time the game has finished, you will have explored every nook and cranny of the academy.

Each chapter is subdivided into separate weeks, consisting of story events, classes, free time, and- if you are unlucky enough- detention. The chapter will begin with a short compulsory event, then it’s off to Student Affairs to sign up for your classes. Over the course of your school life, you’ll have compulsory core courses and a selection of optional modules to take, but if you want to evade detention, you’ll have to get a decent grade in all of them.

As you would expect, classes cover a variety of different alchemy-related subjects, from synthesis to combat and even gathering items. At the beginning of each class, the teacher will set your objective, and then it’s up to you to fulfil it- either by going back to your workshop and synthesising a required item, or heading out into the field to gather items and defeat monsters. Depending on how well you manage to achieve your goal, you’ll get a grade from A-F, with only passing grades counting towards your required credits.

Unfortunately, if you can’t get enough passing grades, your precious free time will be taken up by detention. Since I was fortunate enough to pass all my classes, I never actually had to do any detention, but from what I’ve read it consists of menial tasks.

Once all your classroom duties are over, you will finally get the chance to indulge in some free time, although unless you plan to just go straight to the dorms and sleep, you’ll be busy doing optional missions. When free time is in effect, the quest system from Atelier Iris 3 makes a return, with various requests appearing on the Student Affairs notice board. Predictably, all the requests are either for items to be synthesised and gathered or for particular monsters to be defeated, with the rewards being entirely monetary. Although it might sound a little tedious, for those who have already been won over by the addictiveness of the Atelier series, it will be no great chore- and if you don’t feel like doing some extra questing, it’s entirely up to you.

The best part of free time, however, is that it lets you interact with your party members- pick someone in the workshop and choose to find out more about them, and you’ll find yourself drawn into a quest related to that character. From training with swordsmaster Anna to defending justice with upperclassman Flay, each event will flesh out one particular character whilst also building your relationship with them, with those relationship scores affecting the ending of the game.

With all your classes complete and free time whiled away, the chapter will end with a story event. Lather, rinse and repeat, and that’s basically the pattern of the entire game.

On campus

Whilst you’re juggling classes, events and free time, there will also be plenty of opportunities to wander around the Al-Revis campus. As well as a variety of shops where you can purchase alchemy recipes and ingredients, there are a number of other services available Of course, alchemy is the most important of these, and although the basic system is carried over from Atelier Iris 3, some tweaks and additions have been made.

The most annoying new feature is the fact that synthesising weapons, armour and accessories now takes place at the ‘Athanor’, leaving only mana items, key items and ingredient synthesis in your workshop. Even though the two places are only next door, it is extremely irritating to have to run back and forth because you need to synthesise a mana item before you can make a particular weapon, for example.

Fortunately, Gust have at least attempted to justify their decision by making the two types of alchemy a little different. When you synthesise in your workshop, you set (and later increase) the quality of your items by using a modicum of reflexes and timing to stop a spinning ring when it matches the element of each ingredient being used. Your allies can also help out in the synthesis, with their assistance also affecting the quality, slowing up the ring or switching all the slots to a particular element. Most of the time, you will want to maximise the quality of your item, as this will carry over to any other items you synthesise with it (and in the case of weapons, armour and accessories, give them more abilities), but certain quests in the game can only be completed by making a really poor quality item.

Fortunately, if you’ve synthesised an item whose quality you’re happy with, you don’t have to go through this process every time- you can just synthesise it straight from the ingredients without having to worry about elements and spinning rings. And of course, like previous games, you can try substituting one ingredient for another in order to see if you discover a recipe for something new- in fact, sometimes your allies will even suggest a new combination for you to try.

In contrast, synthesis at the Athanor doesn’t require such effort- all you need to do is pick your ingredients, confirm the synthesis and then decide what inherent abilities you want the item to have. These abilities are carried over from the ingredients, and depending on what you have on offer, you can assign one attack and two support abilities to an item.

Another new feature in this game is the ability to spread rumours about yourself- as you complete various achievements in the course of the game, you will be able to spread related rumours and gain a stat boost. Unfortunately, only one rumour can be in circulation at any time, and overall any effects they provide are negligible overall.

For those of you who find gathering and synthesising all the items you need a rather daunting and tiresome task, you’ll be pleased to know that your allies can assist you in this regard. In your workshop, you can assign them individual tasks such as gaining AP, gathering items or synthesising, and depending on their affinity for a particular task, they will return in a week or two of game time with the fruits of their labour. Since their synthesis doesn’t use up your ingredients, it’s a good way of building up a stock of items- although be warned that they cannot make any item you haven’t created at least once, even if you have the recipe for it.

Fight or flight: heading out into the field

Once you’ve exhausted the possibilities on campus, the next step is to venture out into the wilds. As with Atelier Iris 3, Mana Khemia has a set level of areas that you must visit multiple times, but this time the variety is such that it doesn’t get boring- and better yet, dungeons are no longer timed. In their place, however, time passes whilst you are in the field- and if you happen to get caught out at night, you will find that monsters are much tougher and more aggressive than their diurnal counterparts.

Like Atelier Iris 3, monsters wander around the field in the form of blobs that will pursue you and initiate battle if you get too close- again blue blobs are weaklings that can be destroyed with a slash during the day, whilst red ones must be fought (or at least escaped from, although again at night it seems to be impossible to escape). Fortunately, if you get defeated in anything other than a story battle, you will be teleported back to campus; you can also transport back any time by using the “Wings of Icarus” key item.

Even the battle system itself is straight out of Atelier Iris 3- the Active Cost Card Battle system is back, albeit with a couple of tweaks. In the old days, when a character died, they got a turn as soon as they were revived, but this time around, a dead character’s greyed out turn card remains in the bar, so even if they are revived, they won’t get a turn until their card comes back to the front.

Small as it may seem, this is just the first in a number of revisions to the system that force a change in strategy. Those who relied on the Burst Gauge in AI3 may be pleased to learn that it is back- but this time around it takes a lot more effort to fill the gauge, reducing its status as the easy option for finishing tough battles. That being said, later in the game you’ll get an extra finisher gauge tacked onto the Burst Gauge; provided you fulfil a certain condition whilst in Burst (such as attacking with a particular element, using knockback attacks, buffing your allies and so forth), this gauge will fill- and once it is at it maximum, you can select one of your characters to perform a deadly finishing move.

Those who recall that Atelier Iris 3 only had three playable characters will be pleased to learn that Mana Khemia has a more rounded eight possibilities, which means that the ability to switch characters in and out of battle is back. This time around, you can have three characters in your active party and three on standby, with the option to switch them. Unlike earlier AI games, however, when you start a battle or switch party members, the person who was switched out must wait a short while before being able to rejoin the fray- a feature that isn’t very forgiving of mistakes or short-sightedness with regard to party setup.

The other notable change is the return of MP- gone is the Skill Gauge of AI2-3 in favour of a more traditional system. Characters also have special ‘List Skills’ which require items rather than MP to enact.

After battle, however, you might notice another major shift from RPG norms- your characters will be gaining AP, but EXP is nowhere in sight. Unexpected as this may seem, this is because Mana Khemia simply doesn’t have conventional levelling up- instead, characters advance via the ‘Grow Book’, the latest take on the Sphere Grid type system. With the Grow Book, nodes are activated when you synthesise a particular item, and then the abilities or stat increases associated with that node can be obtained by spending AP. It’s a system that takes a bit of getting used to, but whilst it isn’t something you’d want to see in every game, it is worthy through sheer novelty value alone.

Playable characters

• Vayne: Like most main characters, Vayne is a balanced character with an emphasis on physical attacks. His weapon is his cat, Sulpher, who transforms into a bladed gauntlet, making him perfect for multiple hit attacks. Vayne is also the only one with the Analyse skill- unlike Atelier Iris 3, monster HP is not automatically displayed until you use this on a particular monster type. Fortunately, Analyse also does damage, so it doesn’t feel like a waste of a turn.
• Jess: the healer of the group, Jess’ basic attacks do magical damage, whilst she can also do ‘On the Spot Synthesis’- a two-turn attack that lets her synthesis and use Mana items on the field. Her deadly handbag also has the ability to transform enemies into candy.
• Nikki: A good backup character, it’s no surprise that Nikki’s massive spiked ball does some decent physical damage, but while her special skills are solid, there’s nothing particularly overwhelming about them. As a catgirl, however, Nikki’s kinship with beasts enables her to convert monsters into special hearts that she can use to re-summon them in battle.
• Flay: Once you get Flay, Nikki will probably be relegated to the back row, as he supersedes her in the physical department. With a giant mechsword that must have been borrowed from AI3’s Edge, Flay can do huge damage with multi-hit and drilling attacks. He can also imbue his attacks with Lightning element- his one concession to the existence of magical abilities.
• Pamela: A ghost with a killer teddy bear, Pamela is a weak attacker whose few healing abilities aren’t worth the pain of putting up with her weak specials. Still, it’s nice to see series staple Pamela finally being playable, even if I hardly ever used her.
• Anna: A master of swordsmanship, Anna is an amazingly swift samurai whose piercing blade ensures that she should almost always be on the front lines. The speed of her attacks more than makes up for lagging behind the like of Flay in terms of sheer strength, with her multi-hit repertoire often carving through the enemy.
• Roxis: the anti-hero of the piece, Roxis uses trading cards for magical and time-based attacks- he may not do much damage with a basic attack, but over time his specials will do a lot of cumulative damage. He can also clear the time bar of enemy spells, which remains a vastly useful skill.
• Muppy: A mysterious alien, Muppy is a rather incongruous addition to the game who arrives too late for players to care about him that much. He has a lot of fire based abilities, but overall he’s surplus to requirements.

Story

Although the overall story of Mana Khemia is pretty standard as RPGs go, the game recaptures the feel of the original Atelier Iris when it comes to feeling that you are actually part of a properly interacting world. All the main characters are well developed, and although side stories such as Flay’s quest for justice are rather annoying, overall the character exploration remains interesting.

Audiovisual

When it comes to visuals, sound and music, Mana Khemia is pretty much on a par with previous games in the series, with cute sprites, well drawn but not overly sophisticated backgrounds and a solid blend of background themes. This time around, however, the character designs have a different style- they are still attractive, but they are more angular than those of the Atelier Iris series.

Final Thoughts

Although it may seem a little simplistic and repetitive in places, Mana Khemia is a worthy successor to the Atelier title, and remains a highly enjoyable experience from start to finish. I’m looking forward to the English release of Mana Khemia 2.

Just as the four .hack games must be effectively considered as one, so too is DDS2 basically an extension of the first game- albeit a very worthy one that shouldn’t be overlooked. With that in mind, most of the game play details are of course the same as the first game, so what I will be looking at here are the differences, tweaks and improvements that the second game brings to the series.

Emerging from the Junkyard

Having survived the destruction of the Junkyard at the end of the first game, your heroes emerge into the real world- a place filled with just as many dangers as the one you just left. Once again, you will move between a relatively limited number of areas, each of which takes a while to properly complete, ensuring that the playing experience is at least as long as it was in the first game, depending on how much levelling up you want to do.

Compared to the last game, however, there is a lot more interaction with the areas you visit- gone are the unlockable coloured walls for optional areas, but in their place getting through even regular dungeons is a bit more of a challenge. As well as the old staple of disappearing walls and working out which teleport will take you forward rather than the beginning, there are also areas of darkness and damaging electrical areas that will deplete your HP. In order to combat these, you will need to purchase Light Balls to banish the darkness and Core Shields to protect you from external damage. And for those of you who welcome more action orientated pursuits, there’s a rather stressful section in the game where you will have to escape from prison by running from the jailer on the field map.

The other changes are mainly cosmetic- for example, Solar Noise is now called Solar Data, macca and cells have been replaced with dollars and flowers (valuable in this post-apocalyptic reality), whilst the menu now also contains a ‘Recovery’ option that automatically selects characters with the appropriate skills to heal the party- a faster option than scrolling through the skills menu yourself.

There is one major addition to consider, however, in the form of a new type of equippable item called a Karma Ring. Each Karma ring offers either a boost to stats or an advantage in battle (anything from Void Phys at the start of battle to providing the party with an extra Press Turn each round), and can be further customised by filling its empty slots with stat enhancing gems. Each character can equip one Karma Ring, which in turn usually has 2-4 gem slots- but be warned, if you want to remove gems and put other ones in, the ones you remove will be destroyed forever.

For those who imported data from the first game, there are also some extra treats- if you made the right decisions in that game, you’ll be able to learn some unique special abilities in the final dungeon, as well as having the chance of recruiting a ‘secret’ character (whose identity must be the worst kept secret in gaming history).

Field hunting also makes a return and operates in much the same way as DDS1, although it is only available when Serph is in the party, making it unavailable for huge stretches of the game.

Devouring the enemy

Aside from a few changes to the interface, at first glance the battle system looks much the same as the first game- Press Turns are back, along with all the familiar spells and enemy types- but alongside it, a few new twists have been introduced. The first and most obvious of these is the new Berserk Mode- when Solar Data is at or close to its maximum, your ability to transform becomes unstable, causing you to sometimes enter battle in Berserk Mode, a fusion of your human and demon forms. In Berserk Mode, your strength and chance of scoring a critical hit are greatly increased, but it comes at a price- magic is unusable, defence is lowered and it’s also very likely that your attack will miss.

Once again mastering skills for battle is dependent on the Mantra Grid, but this too has been given an overhaul for the new era. Instead of consisting of several linear tracks for each ability type, the new Mantra Grid is now a hexagonal grid that allows more freedom for switching between ‘tracks’- provided you’ve mastered an adjacent mantra, you can always jump across to learning one from a completely different element or skill type, even if you haven’t yet learned lower level spells from that element. This is certainly useful later in the game, since you can skip learning the basic spells that aren’t really useful anymore.

The new Mantra Grid also has another twist in the form several secret mantra which can only be unlocked when all the mantra around them have been mastered (not necessarily by the same character, just the party as a whole). Some of these mantras boost the party’s stats, but others are of an ‘Esoteric’ type that enable the mastery of extra skills of varying usefulness. Also present are powerful Hidden Mantra that only appear when a character reaches the end of a particular track, alongside a couple of special mantra that only appear on the grid when special optional bosses are defeated.

Combos have also been expanded and retooled somewhat- as well as having more combos to discover in the first place, they have been made somewhat more flexible. For example, in the first game elemental combos needed both elemental spells to be at the same level (so as you levelled up your single target spells you’d lose your lower level all target combos), but this no longer happens- so Teradyne and Bufudyne don’t just allow you to cast Mabufudyne, they also let you cast the lower level Mabufula and Mabufu.

In terms of overall difficulty, Digital Devil Saga 2 is much like its predecessor in that you can’t brute force it- you have to take your enemies’ strengths and weaknesses into account if you want to get anywhere. The game also has a Hard Mode for those who have cleared the first game or started a New Game+, but certainly the basic game is challenging enough, with significant grinding and learning of mantras required in order to best some of the later bosses.

Veterans of the first game will recall occasionally running into Omoikanes, tricky enemies that yielded great rewards for those able to defeat them. They’re back in Digital Devil Saga 2, but this time around it’s easier to get the better of them- instead of being weak to gun attacks, they come in groups of five and are vulnerable to random elements, ensuring that you should be able to kill at least a few of them over the course of the game and reap in massive rewards.

When you’re not out encountering Omoikanes, there’s a chance you might run into Jack Frost, a quizmaster who has 100 questions for aspiring adventurers. Each question is multiple choice; getting them right will net you an item, but getting them wrong will see the battle end immediately. Once you eventually get all 100 questions right, a secret area will open up.

Playable characters (spoilers!)

Serph (Varna): Despite being nominally still the main character, Serph spends large portions of the game being unplayable (more on that further down). Nonetheless, when you have him in your team he remains a solid all-rounder whose stat growth you can customise as you like (as before, I recommend focusing on STR, MAG and VIT), making for a solid attacker with a good command of magic. His natural element is ice, with a weakness to fire.

Gale (Vayu): This time around, Gale is playable from the start of the game, and although he’s an all-rounder with a wind specialist, he tends to fill in as the fire-user too. Whenever Argilla and Cielo are available, Gale tends to take more of back seat, but he is useful to fall back on in situations where they can’t contribute.

Argilla (Prithivi): Once again, Argilla is the weakest of the team physically, instead specialising in magic with an affinity for Earth spells. For me, Argilla was usually the healer of the team, although when the occasion called for it she could let loose with powerful elemental magic and combos.

Roland (Indra): New for DDS, Roland is inexplicably the team’s second Thunder specialist, although unlike Cielo he isn’t weak against ailments (instead, Earth is his weakness). He’s an average character who proves useful early on, but he later leaves the party and only becomes playable in the final dungeon if you don’t fulfil the conditions to get Heat back. Personally, I would have preferred Roland to be a fire user (since otherwise you don’t have a fire specialist until the end), with mine proving to be a stolid backup for ice, healing and thunder attacks.

Cielo (Dyaus): A vital component of my team, Cielo may be a weaker character who likes to pump his stat bonuses into random places, but even so for me he became invaluable, mastering not only his native thunder but Death and Expel magic as well. With various stat boosting spells on his side as well, there was never nothing for Cielo to do in battle.

Sera (Varnani): Serph’s replacement for a section of the game, Sera is basically the female incarnation of Varna, and as such absorbs all of the skills that Serph has learned up to the point she replaces him. Just like Serph, she is a solid all-rounder, although as far as design goes I prefer the original Varna.

Heat (Agni): Unless you make the right choices at two points in the first game and then two further points in this game, you will only get to use the overpowered ‘True Agni’ in one battle; however, for those who go the extra mile, Heat can be used in place of Roland in the final dungeon (he absorbs all the skills that Roland learned earlier in the game). As before, Heat is skewed towards being a powerful physical attacker (although never stronger than Serph/Seraph) rather than a mage, but as he is the only playable fire specialist, it’s good to have him along for that as well as the nostalgia factor.

Seraph (Ardha): Disappointingly, when Serph and Seraph fuse to become Seraph, the demon thus created is an ugly bug-eyed creature with a hideous design. Ardha, is, however, a strong all-rounder with no particular weaknesses, which makes him/her a staple of the front line. Certainly I rarely switched him/her out of the party once s/he joined.

Story

Following straight on from the original game, DDS2 unravels the mysteries behind the world of the Junkyard and the nature of both the Embryon and the Karma Society. It all gets a bit convoluted and confusing at times, but the game remains none the less enjoyable for it.

Audiovisual

Unsurprisingly, the game is identical to its predecessor when it comes to visuals and effects, with only slight changes to the look of the interface marking it out from the original. The background music has been updated and remixed for this instalment, but is still in keeping with the first game.

Final Thoughts

Between them, the two Digital Devil Saga games have proven that the RPG genre isn’t as stale and tired as one might begin to fear- there is still room for innovative battle systems that force you to do more than just select ‘Attack’ all the time. Here’s to much more of the same from the team at Atlus.

In the world of the Junkyard, six tribes are embroiled in a war where the victor can claim the right to escape the turmoil and enter the promised land of Nirvana. The conflict has been locked in a stalemate as long as anyone can remember, but all that changes the day a mysterious light appears in the sky. Changed by the light, the people of the Junkyard now have the ability to transform into demons and literally devour their enemies- a powerful new ability that should decide the course of the war one way or another. And for Serph, the young leader of the Embryon tribe, it is the start of a journey to save a mysterious young woman who appeared in the Junkyard at the moment when this all began.

An offshoot of the ever popular Shin Megami Tensei franchise of games, Digital Devil Saga’s initially rather cryptic title (trust me, it will make sense by the end) hides what turns out to be one of the more compelling RPGs out there. With a battle system that demands skill and strategy rather than brute force, and a game play style so addictive that you simply cannot tear yourself away once you start playing, DDS is a hidden gem even for those who thought they knew the RPG scene.

The Junkyard

During your adventures in the Junkyard, you take on the role of Serph, the quiet leader of the Embryon whose goal it is to defeat all the other tribes and reach Nirvana. What this basically means is that you and your team are embroiled in a battle royale situation, and unlike certain other series, that means there’s no beating about the bush- you’re out to put a permanent end to your rivals.

What this boils down to, of course, is visiting different areas and taking on the other tribes. There aren’t actually all that many locations in the game to visit, but each dungeon takes a while to complete, so all in all you get a decent playtime for the game. Not only will each area have several levels (luckily you can refer to a map to see everywhere you’ve been), but you’ll be solving puzzles along the way- everything from simple gate and switch setups to a few more complex situations such as having a limited time to swim through underground water pipes.

Fortunately, save points (or Karma terminals, as they are known), are relatively plentiful in the game, although game play is so addictive that your intention to just play to the next save point usually becomes ‘play for the next three hours’. Karma terminal come in two types- large Karma terminals will let you restore your party (for a price), whilst small ones lack this facility but do allow you to teleport to the nearest large terminal (a good way to avoid backtracking once you’ve completed a dungeon). Also scattered about the world are vendors, life terminals and rejuvenation points; the latter two have the same function of healing you, but with the difference that life terminals cost money.

Whilst playing the game, you’ll also notice a gauge in the top left corner measuring ‘Solar Noise’. The manual will very vaguely tell you that ‘Solar Noise affects your characters in different ways’, but don’t worry if you don’t have much of a clue what it does; it only affects the selling price of certain items, the damage done by a handful of abilities and the aforementioned water pipe mini-game.

Also available in certain areas is the ability to go ‘Field Hunting’; a more action-orientated game play mode, Field Hunting lets Serph slash minor demons (basically balls of light)- get enough within the time limit, and you’ll battle against a special enemy, the Mitama. Mitama are strong against all but a particular elemental magic, but they are also prone to run away, so killing them isn’t easy (although of course, if you manage it, there’ll be a big reward). Equally tricky to pin down are Omoikanes, random monsters who are only weak against your characters’ human forms, but who flee at the drop of a hat- again, defeating them will net you a nice bonus.

Naturally, the game also comes with optional bosses and areas for the truly dedicated to explore, most of them hidden behind coloured walls that you need a key to pass through. It is in fact possible to complete the entire game without ever unlocking these walls, but if you want to do everything in the game, you’ll need to track down the appropriate keys.

Hunting: we eat to live, and live to eat

Battle is the flesh and blood of DDS (often quite literally) and whilst the random encounter rate is higher than most of us would have liked, the game is refreshing in that you can’t get anywhere just by spamming the attack button as you can with most games. Instead, strategy is key to almost every battle, and those who ignore it probably won’t be able to make it past the first dungeon.

Before getting into battle, it’s important to make sure that you have the right selection of skills set up; as well as basic attacks, each character has room for 4, 6 or 8 skills depending on their level, and although that might seem quite generous, you’ll have to carefully pick and choose what works best for you. Skills come in four types- physical abilities which deplete HP, magic attacks which deplete MP, auto skills which provide resistances or trigger automatically under the right circumstances and shield skills which let you void, repel or drain certain types of attack. There’s a wide variety on offer, and you’re going to have become familiar with pretty much all of them in order to survive.

When it comes to actually learning these skills, you’ll be relying on the Mantra Grid; the game’s equivalent of Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid. Mantra are laid out in rows according to type, with nodes adjacent to mastered Mantra available for download at save points. Downloading a mantra costs money, but you then have to accumulate AP from battle to master that Mantra and use its corresponding skills. What you end up with, therefore, is great freedom of choice in customising your characters- which can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how decisive you are.

With all that in mind, the time has finally come to discuss battle itself, and it is here where the need for strategy will become apparent. Digital Devil Saga uses what it calls the “Press Turn” system, in which your party receives one full turn per living party member (you can have one to three members at any time). The party will act in the order you set in the menu, and generally the same conditions apply to the enemy- although certain bosses do get extra turns.

In the normal run of things, every action you take will consume one turn, but- and here’s where skill really kicks in- there are some important exceptions. If your attack corresponds to an enemy’s weakness, then you’ll only consume half a turn, whilst if your attack fails or is something the enemy is strong against, you’ll consume two turns (you can also pass to only use up half a turn). If you have a spare half turn left over (represented by a flashing hexagon in the top right rather than a solid one), then the next character to go will use this as if it were a complete turn rather than a half. That last specific may not make much sense until you actually come to play, but suffice to say that targeting enemy weaknesses will result in more turns and higher damage done before the enemy gets a chance to counterattack.

Of course, attacks and skills aren’t the only options you have in battle; as well as the obvious choice of using an item, you can also switch party members in and out of battle, revert to human form (more on this in a moment) or perform a combo ability involving two or three party members. Combos are unlocked by the right combination of individual skills between characters, and whilst they take up multiple turns, they can also be useful for dealing more damage than the component skills would be able to do on their own.

When it comes to reverting to human form, you might naturally wonder why you would want to do such a thing- after all, a puny gun-wielding human is far less impressive than a demon with special skills. It’s important to be aware of the ability to transform and revert, however, for not only does it help when you get ambushed and have to begin the battle in human form, but there are also attacks that humans are immune to, enemies that are weak against guns and combos that need at least one human character in order to perform. All in all, it isn’t something you’ll be using all the time, but it’s a useful option to have.

Another aspect of the game you’ll want to be aware of is the ability to hunt your enemy- since the mastery of Mantra is depending on collecting AP, you’ll want to enhance the amount you get at the end of each battle by literally consuming your enemy. In order to achieve this, you’ll first need to frighten the enemy by attacking their weaknesses or successfully nullifying the attacks, before finishing them off with a Hunt skill that will see your characters devour an enemy demon. The reward for pulling this off is a nice big chunk of AP, but beware- the greedier you are, the more likely you’ll end up with the stomach ache status effect, which prevents you from earning any AP at all!

Quick tip: If your HP/MP are low and there’s no restore point or item vendor in sight, save your ‘Noise’ items for this situation- not only do they permanently increase your stats, but they also completely heal you. It’s also worth noting that there’s a chance of healing HP, MP or both when a character levels up.

Playable characters

Serph (Varna): As Varna, Serph is an ice element demon with a natural weakness to fire, and with the unique feature that you can customise his stat growth (as any RPG player will know, strength, vitality and magic should be prioritised over agility and luck). Serph tends to become a worthy physical attacker and mage quite naturally over the course of the game; my focus was on enhancing his natural ice abilities with earth and healing as backups, alongside boosting abilities.

Heat (Agni): A strong physical attacker at the expense of magic, in Agni form Heat is a fire element demon who is weak against ice (like you can’t guess from the name). Unfortunately, whilst he is useful early in the game, the increasing importance of magic later on forces him to take a backseat, as both Gale and Argilla are capable of becoming better with fire element magic than he is. By the end of the game, I mainly used Heat for abilities I wanted but no one else had room for, but if you wish to develop his physical and ailment inducing skills, then that would probably be the best path for him.

Argilla (Prithivi): A natural mage and earth element demon (her weakness is force, the game’s equivalent of wind), Argilla is able to become skilled in both healing and elemental magic, which is exactly what I used her for. Her physical strength may be low, but with her outstanding magic ability, she’s just what you need later in the game.

Gale (Vayu): A force element demon with a weakness to electricity, Gale doesn’t join up until partway through the game, but he does come prepared with some handy force element magic that will probably be stronger than anything you’ve taught your party up to that point. I like to use him as a backup mage with a focus on force and fire element, as well as a revival ability for when Argilla is knocked out. His stat growth tends to be reasonably balanced.

Cielo (Dyaus): The final Embryon member to join the party, Cielo is an electrical element demon with an annoying weakness against ailments (i.e. negative status effects). Although he likes to boost his luck and agility to the detriment of other stats, Cielo’s electrical attacks are second to none, and once you level him up enough to withstand enemy attacks (for a while his relatively low HP makes him a risk in high stakes battles), he can make a good secondary healer as well.

Story

Since Digital Devil Saga and its sequel are two halves of the same whole, don’t expect the story to be completed in this game- instead, it will leave you on a frustrating cliff-hanger that can only be resolved by getting to the second game as soon as possible. As far as we actually see in this game is concerned, on the largest of scales it’s another battle royale, but there’s a lot more going on in the details- just don’t expect it to make any sense just yet.

Audiovisual

As a world filled with warring tribes and hideous demons, the Junkyard isn’t really the most attractive of places- you won’t find any brightly coloured girls and so forth here. Even so, the character and location designs are well thought out, technically accomplished and brought to life through cel-shaded models. The in-game music opts for an industrial theme overall, but is surprisingly worthy as a stand-alone soundtrack, with the battle theme “Hunting” proving immensely catchy.

Final Thoughts

An unexpectedly enjoyable and addictive game, Digital Devil Saga proves that RPGs don’t have to be all about level grinding and spamming the attack button- there’s still room to create a title where skill is necessary but the learning curve isn’t too steep. Just be warned- once you start playing, you won’t ever want to stop.

To be continued…in the Digital Devil Saga 2 review