Last Rebellion is a difficult game to review.  I enjoyed playing through it.  I found the combat system engaging, many of the technical aspects to be smart and helpful, and the art style unique and mostly beautiful.  It’s also a flawed creation, and while none of these flaws break the game, they definitely spoil an experience rife with potential, an experience that could have been something special had someone taken a left when they instead went right, or looked away when they should have paid attention.  Last Rebellion is not a bad game, but it could have been a great game.

The story of Last Rebellion is one of its main issues.  To be frank, it’s almost incomprehensible, and what is comprehensible is boring and predictable.  Is it a problem of translation?  Is it a problem of storytelling in general?  Is it some conglomeration of issues too tangled to fix?  I don’t know.  The basic story is fairly simple, and even compelling in a way.  There is a goddess of destruction and a goddess of creation (who by the end are largely irrelevant).  Unlike most games, it is the goddess of creation who starts out as the main antagonist of our two heroes.  This goddess of creation has gone mad with her own ability, never letting anyone die and causing chaos with the very essence of life.  Nine and Aisha, our protagonists for this adventure, are tasked with roaming the land and sealing away monsters too stubborn to die.  The goddess of death gives them this ability, and it is a required skill for each battle.  There are also political struggles and an antagonistic brother to deal with, but it’s difficult to fully understand exactly what everyone’s role is.  The brother, named Alfred, kills Nine’s father and Nine himself.  Nine is saved by a Sealer named Aisha who casts a complicated spell that basically fuses Nine and Aisha into one being.  They are able to switch forms at will, but forever inhabit the same soul or shell or whatever we might wish to call our mortal coil.  The only time and place that they are aloud to co-exist as separate entities is within a central hub-like area called the Vamino Room that serves as a warp home and save point.  As a mechanism for story, this concept is bizarre.  Fortunately as a game mechanic it’s actually quite ingenious.

While running around on the field, the square button switches between Nine and Aisha.  For the most part, the character you run around with is irrelevant aside from aesthetic favor.  But there is a regen (regeneration) factor for each of them that makes the choice have some meaning.  Nine regens magic power when he’s running around, and Aisha regens health.  The regen is slow but noticeable and helps out quite a bit for the majority of the game.  They also have spells that they can cast while in the field that can only be cast with the person to whom the spell is currently equipped, but that can be changed on the fly.  In combat, both characters participate in a turn based system that is somewhat traditional for JRPGs, but that definitely has its own spin.  Players choose which character goes first and which goes last, and character speed determines if the player or the monsters act first.  Each character has the ability to melee or cast magic, and despite seemingly sharing a stat pool in regards to health, mana and speed, Nine always does more melee damage and Aisha always does more magic damage.  This is proper, however, given their natures.

There are no upgradable weapons to speak of.  Magic is gained by finding a proper item in treasure chests located around the world.  Unfortunately these treasure chests have an annoying key system attached to them.  They generally require 5 keys each, and the keys are random drops from common enemies.  At times, I ran around with an abundance and never had an issue, particularly at the end of the game where I had more than I’d ever use.  At other times, I was frustratingly void of any keys while chests sat around with precious skills in them going unused.  Keys aren’t a 100% drop item, and players can find themselves grinding just to keep up with the skills available.

Thankfully the magic system is quite broad and provides players with an ample amount of battery for often difficult enemies.  There is an entire array of buffing, debuffing, attack (both magical and physical), poisons, etc.  There are also different levels of spells, though these levels aren’t gained by using the spell but rather by finding the item.  It makes lower levels of the spell quite pointless, yet still leaves them on the spell list thus making scrolling through it quite a hassle at times.  Thankfully not too many of the spells have varying levels.  Instead, all spells have 5 strengths that can be cast.  The higher the strength, the higher the mana used.  And the higher levels can only be cast if they are assigned the proper pages.  It’s actually incredibly confusing until the moment comes when it all clicks into place and then it becomes second nature.

Actual combat can also be insanely confusing at first because it involves a system of stamping the body parts of enemies in order to cast spells on them.  Each enemy has a certain number of body parts that Nine or Aisha can hit.  This can range from four to a dozen, and each has a value for how much damage it will take.  If the body part says 100%, it’s going to take significantly more damage than one that says 30%.  There is also a specific order that the body parts need to be hit in that will not only up the damage, but also give players more experience at the end of a battle as they increase their bonus meter.  This order is a process of discovery that generally doesn’t take too long to puzzle out.  Simply trying out different orders of attack will usually net the proper sequence after a few battles or in one battle if it lasts long enough.  There’s another factor at play regarding how many parts the two characters can hit because in addition to health and mana, there is a combo bar that needs to be kept track of.  It starts out fairly low, but rises as the characters gain levels.  If there are two enemies each with 5 body parts, players can hit all 10 body parts if they have 10 combo points.  If they have 20 combo points, they can hit all 10 body parts with both characters.  Alternatively, once a body part has been stamped, it can have magic cast upon it by either character.  Stamps can last for several rounds, and again, if the proper sequence of body parts is hit, those stamps will last longer.

When I type it out, it sounds ridiculously and insanely complicated, and truthfully it might be for some people.  The game also does an awful job of explaining just how these nuances all work together.  Perhaps my long days with RPGs made it more intuitive for me than it might be for others.  Maybe I just had a stroke of math genius, but before too long I understood everything completely and was performing the proper actions when I needed to every time.  It certainly makes the experience easier when the system is understood because towards the start of the game I found myself getting squashed and pulverized to no end.  However, being able to buff up for each fight (enemies are on-screen so there is prep time before they are engaged) and even having the ability to engage from behind for bonus speed in combat helps immensely.

Visually, Last Rebellion is almost a controversial game.  The art style is very anime inspired, but also unique in its pastel-like quality.  The actual action always looks good though, and the framerate is constantly high.  The only thing that might take away from the aesthetic pleasures of the game are the conversation scenes, which are merely portraits with text boxes running below them.  The portrait art isn’t nearly as inspired as the overall style of the game, and it bears a washed out quality that sucks the life out of the story itself, assuming one can follow it.   But the spell effects are nice, and the character models are stylistic to a fault.  Aisha in particular is one of the most pleasing to the eye characters I think I’ve seen in a game.  Load screens also have a series of guest illustrator paintings that in some cases are gorgeous enough that I’d hang them on my wall in a frame.

Like I mentioned at the very start of this, Last Rebellion is a game that is difficult to review properly.  It has so many things going right for it, things I’d love to see implemented in other games, that if taken out of context those aspects might weigh heavily in its favor.  I like having spells to increase my run speed or to make me invisible to enemies.  I like a combat system that is complicated but capable of being mastered.  I like having two characters so in sync with one another that their skills and abilities have the capability of complimenting one another perfectly.  But I dislike poorly written stories, badly paced leveling, horrid tutorials in the form of jokester demons standing around at random spots, status effect mechanics that can render the characters incapacitated for an entire battle, and lazy cut scene implementation.  So I’m going to go with the upper middle road and say that this is a game worth playing, particularly for RPG hungry PS3 owners.  I would warn players, however, not to enter the action with heavy expectations.  In the end, I found myself disappointed at wasted potential, and not even a few optional Prinny bosses to slay could change that.

Title: Last Rebellion Publisher: NIS America Developer: Hit Maker Platform(s): PlayStation 3 Release Date: February 23, 2010

Doin It RIGHT: - Unique and often beautiful style and artwork. - Complicated and engaging combat system. - Good technical and logistic RPG mechanics for the most part. - Optional Prinny bosses.	Doin It RONG: - Inane story and hilariously bad voice acting. - “Cut scenes” are lazy and uninteresting to watch, not animated. - Awful, awful, awful status effect system.
FINAL SCORE: 6 / 10

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Ragnarok DS is what you could consider the portable version of the MMO Ragnarok Online, of which, I can confess I am not very familiar with.  However, I think that may be one of the reasons this baby brother was released for the DS: to introduce potential new players into the Ragnarok universe.

The game is basically a dungeon-crawling action RPG, and follows the story of Ales, a young man whose dream is to be an adventurer and eventually start his own guild.  He immediately finds an amnesiac young girl named Sierra, who he agrees to bring along with him on his adventures.  Naturally, as the story progresses, more people join his party in the constant search for adventure: pretty typical RPG-faire here.

Although some buttons are mapped (i.e. You can use the D-pad to move your character and the face buttons to pull up menus), you’ll find yourself using the stylus almost exclusively, since the button integration isn’t complete.  For example, you can’t press a button to continue in dialogue or go back in a menu, which can be a bit annoying.  So expect a very Zelda DS experience here, control-wise.

Dragging your stylus will move your character around, and tapping on a monster will initiate his attack.  Unless you change the settings, your character will keep attacking that enemy until it’s defeated.  You also have access to a shortcut bar at the top of the touch screen, where you can set frequently used skills and items for easy access.  To use a skill, you must click on it and then perform the action indicated on the top screen, like drawing a swift line through an enemy or a circle through a group of them.  You also have limited control of your party members.  You can set their tactics, such as telling them to act freely, or commanding them to heal, and you can click on their picture in the taskbar to direct them to attack a particular enemy.  However, you can’t directly tell them what skills or spells to use, which is a little frustrating at times.

Exploration is interesting.  Towns remind me a bit of Suikoden Tierkreis in which you are presented with a menu (shops, save, etc.), but when you pick an option (i.e. Tavern), you can walk around and interact with people in that location.  Towns are the only place you can make a permanent save (with two save slots available), although you can make a temporary save any time.  The biggest gripe I had with this system is with no quick travel (more on that later), you may find your quests dragging out for long periods of time, and if you choose to do a temporary save (so you don’t risk losing all your progress), the game will automatically return you to the title screen instead of asking if you want to continue.  It’s not a big deal, but it is irksome.

The game does have an interesting dual-leveling system.  You have your base level, or what you would be most familiar with in every RPG, and then you have your “job level.”  Each time your base level goes up, you’re given points you can use to improve your character’s attributes, such as dexterity, luck, intelligence, etc.  The higher that attribute is the more points it will take to increase it, giving a bit of strategy in how you distribute your points.  When your job level goes up, you’re given skill points to spend on learning and improving skills based on what job you are.

Everyone starts the game as a novice job class with two basic skills, but once your job level reaches 10, you can go to the job guild and apply for a more advanced job, such as a swordsman.  Each job has its own equipment and skills, and whenever you change jobs you must “start over”: all your equipment is removed (but not lost), and your job level goes back to zero.  You also must start from scratch with your new skills.  As you level up, you can also try for an even higher level job (such as a knight), which has its own requirements and skills, but which will enable you to use equipment you otherwise could not.  In some ways, this is the most interesting aspect of the game, as there are even higher “secret” jobs you can acquire if your character becomes powerful enough.

Although there is a story and plenty of (very. slow. moving.) dialogue, the heart of the game is fetch quest dungeon crawling.  Generally, you are told to find some random object, you go on your trek, fight your way through to the very end of a dungeon, kill the boss monster, collect the item, and then trudge all the way back.  That’s right. There’s no quick travel, even after you complete a dungeon.  It’s a little ironic, considering you use warp gates (instead of doors) for everything, yet you can’t just warp to places (i.e. from a town) that you’ve already visited.  It also means you will have to go through the dungeon to the exit every time, plus passing through all the forest or whatnot you had to travel through to get there in the first place.  Even though dungeons aren’t very big (no more than a few floors or sections), this gets old pretty fast, as it is completely unnecessary. This is made worse by the fact that there is usually only one laborious path from point A to point B, which would be fine one or two times, but certainly not more than that. Add to the fact that you must find the map for the area whenever you enter a new locale (think the original Zelda dungeons), and it all can get old pretty fast. Later in the game, you’re able to purchase some items that give you limited quick travel abilities, but the fact that this is done so late and doesn’t solve all the repetition is still disappointing.

Don’t get me wrong, Ragnarok can be fun at times, but overall, I found the frustration usually outweighed any levity.  For example, you can only take on one tavern quest at a time, and I found it could take many hours of battling the same monsters before you ever got them to drop what you needed for your quest.  Also, quests are only partially recorded in your menu.  Let me explain… Only the main quests and tavern quests will be listed, but often details won’t be, and some sub-quests of the main quests will not be included at all.  This often means you have to trek back to whomever it was that gave you the quest to find out the details (i.e., what items did they want you to collect for them again?), which is completely poor design.

Muliplayer. For a game that’s based off of an MMO, you would expect the multiplayer experience to be a high priority to be developed well, but this doesn’t seem to be the case.  For instance, you can’t jump into multiplayer directly from the main menu the way you can in most DS RPGs that offer it.  Instead, you have to travel the long distance through the game world until you get to the Mirage Tower, a tower filled with various floors and enemies that you can tackle as either a single player or with others in multiplayer.  The game never tells you this at any point.  It isn’t mentioned in the otherwise very thorough manual, either.  So it’s very possible someone could play through the game and never even realize that multiplayer exists, or at least never figure out how to access it.  This is the first flaw.  The second is that you can only play with others in this tower.  That’s it.  You would expect that you could have friends join you once you finish the main story to help you fulfill the thousands of side quests available (which make up most of the gameplay), but you’d be wrong.  Although I dabbled in the multiplayer for the sake of this review, I think in general you would find the tower more fulfilling as a single player experience.

Basically, once you arrive at the tower you have the option to make a save and customize your character’s look along with a few messages you can trigger with the face buttons.  Then you can enter the tower as either a single player, or choose multiplayer.  The game will then ask if you want to do this locally or over WiFi, and if you choose WiFi, then you have the option of entering (or choosing, if you already registered them) your friends.  Otherwise, it will randomly search for “Allys” (yes, that’s how it’s spelled in the game) to join you.  You have no customization in this at all, which is a little disappointing, as you could very easily end up with a rather unbalanced party.

The first few times I tried to get matched up, my allies decided to jump right into the very top of the tower, as they were obviously more experienced than me.  Luckily for me (or my character, perhaps), my connection got broken almost immediately as we arrived in the tower, and I was sent back to the matchmaking screen.  When I finally was able to enter the tower (on floor 1), I had only one other ally with me.  This was fine for these early floors, but I could see this system being problematic for higher levels.

Basically the tower is just a series of rooms per floor that (thankfully) are pre-mapped.  You must defeat a certain number of monsters per floor to either A) make the warp appear that will take you to the next level or B) make the special monster appear that you must defeat to make that warp appear.  Just do this over and over and there you have the tower.  After you pass a certain number of floors (i.e., five), you will fight a boss monster.  Then you will go to a screen that lets you and your allies “bid” on various items, such as weapons, potions, and cards.  You can pass or bid, although I found the system a bit confusing.  After the time limit passes, you win whatever items you had the highest bid on.  Then you have the option to continue in the tower or end your session.

I would imagine that playing locally with friends might have some potential for fun, but as it stands, I feel like the multiplayer was a “tacked-on” experience and doesn’t really add much to the game as a whole.

I was hopeful that the game simply got off to a slow/poor start, but even once you successfully open your own guild, the gameplay remains basically the same: flawed, repetitive, and with a low challenge level. However, if you like dungeon-crawling action-RPGs, you may want to give this one a try anyway. It can have a very Diabolo-esque feel to it at times (you will be picking up a lot of loot, which you much decide to keep or sell to maintain your limited inventory).  The card system (which I haven’t mentioned) allows you to customize certain weapons and gear to improve their stats (think of them as the runes or gems you might have experienced in other RPGs), which does add a bit of strategy.  Once you finish the story, which is pretty short by RPG standards, about 20 hours, with only about 10 of that being actual content and the rest filler, you have hours and hours of gameplay if you choose to complete all the side quests available or take on the tower (either alone or in multiplayer). Still, there are better DS RPGs on the market, so you may be better off spending your money elsewhere.  Or, if you’re really interested, you may want to try the more robust MMO experience that Raganarok Online offers on the PC.

Doin It RIGHT: - Simple gameplay makes it fun for those new to RPGs or looking for a less-complicated affair. - Hours of questing gameplay. - Leveling and job system adds interest and depth.	Doin It RONG: - Design flaws (such as no quick travel) can make the game tedious. - Story is shallow and moves too slowly. - Multiplayer feels like it’s “tacked on” and doesn’t really add to the game.
FINAL SCORE: 5 / 10

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I’ll start off by confessing that I’ve been playing this game off and on for nearly a year.  It’s just one of those games that’s great to pick up and play for a little while, set it down, and come back to it later.  It’s also one of my all-time favorite games for the DS (it’s also available on nearly every other platform), even though it’s far from perfect.  But a game doesn’t have to be “perfect” to be fun, does it?  Even though I’ve finished the story mode, I know I’ll keep playing whenever the “match 3″ bug strikes me, and I’m very eagerly awaiting the true sequel, which promises to do nothing but improve over the first game.

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Cliches can be a tense edge to stand on.  On occasion, they’re welcome because we know them, we’ve experienced them. We feel nostalgia when revisiting them.  At other times, they’re tired, worn beings who we’d prefer to see put down rather than continue on in their dogged existence.  Whichever way any one player feels about a cliche, the very definition of the word means that it’s something that’s been done enough times that it’s predictable.  Half-Minute Hero uber-enhances every single RPG cliche we’ve seen over the past 20 year, but does it in the most unique way I’ve ever seen.

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The Last Rebellion is an RPG from NIS America that isn’t getting a whole lot of press.  We can blame Mass Effect 2 or Final Fantasy 13 for this certainly, or we can even blame a waning interest in JRPGs in general.  What we probably shouldn’t ignore is that another RPG with some major potential is heading to the PS3, and given the strong output of Nippon Ichi over the years, I for one am taking heed.  Sure, they haven’t been pure gold (A Witch’s Tale, though decent, needed work), but they’ve been solid.

The Last Rebellion follows protagonists Nine and Aisha.  Nine is a Blade, who can kill things physically, and Aisha is a Sealer, who can kill things spiritually (like most women!).  In short, they’re summoned to a kingdom in need to sort out some monster issues, there’s some gods and goddesses, typical JRPG stuff.  There’s more to it, but that’s just the gist.  World exploration is free range and combat is turn-based, but also involved in that players don’t just choose an action and end their turn.  Rather, certain body parts can be targeted, Aisha and Nine can be used alternatively or exclusively, etc.  The game looks beautiful, as the trailer and screens can testify below, and bears a lovely resemblance to Tales of Vesperia and even the Wii and Gamecube versions of Fire Emblem.

The game, in a shocking turnaround, will release in the states a mere month after it’s Japanese introduction, possibly even less, with a vague hint at February.  With a January 28th release in Japan, that’s quick localization!  Hopefully not too quick.  Though some of the passion for JRPGs might be leaving western shores, I know myself and a few others are glancing with hopeful eyes towards this February horizon.

12►

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Atlus and Persona series fans had heard about the infamous Persona 3 Portable months ago, but that was sadly for the Japanese version.  While SMT fanatics played through Persona PSP, we waited (as patiently as we could) for today: the official announcement that Persona 3 Portable or P3P, will arrive in North America in July (both on UMD and via PSN).

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Atlus’ Shiren the Wanderer, based upon the popular Japanese Mystery Dungeon series, is something both old and new. Though the series has been prevalent on the other side of the globe for quite some time, North American gamers were first introduced to the randomized dungeon-crawling with 2008’s release of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for Nintendo DS.  Now, this series (one that aims for hardcore role-playing gamers) is coming to the Nintendo Wii.

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The game wasn’t exactly lacking or expensive, but recently Valve both slashed the price of Torchlight and threw in a batch of over 60 achievements to waste your precious time with.  They’ve also added Steam Cloud support, which basically means your character is saved to a central server giving you access to him or her from any PC in the known universe. 

If you’ve been holding off on Torchlight for whatever reason, as I have, you basically have no excuse not to at least try it.  It only costs you $10 bucks, which is less than I’ll spend on beer tonight, and while it offered enough to keep you busy for dozens and dozens of hours before, Steam Achievements now give it even more to recommend itself. 

So go buy it, or at the very least try out the free demo.

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I’ve firmly decided that the gaming industry wishes for me to file bankruptcy. That must be the only explanation. I can’t think of a better reason for packages such as the definitive edition of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, because I know where my cash is going in Q1 of 2010 alongside some of my most-anticipated titles. As one of the first RPG franchises aside from Final Fantasy that I loved and connected with, the Lunar games are near and dear to my heart. I’m proud to say that I’d love to go broke in style with the $39.99 edition of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, the upcoming remake of Lunar: Silver Star Story.

Aside from a reworked and remastered presentation of the classic tale, the purchase of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony’s limited edition will net you a soundtrack CD as well as trading cards of the bromides seen in-game, 13 in all. And you know you killed yourself trying to collect them all, didn’t you? Naughty.

Coming next year via XSEED Games, this package may never compare to Lucia’s pendant that we eagerly tore out of its velour pouch with Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete  nor the vast amount of goodies Working Designs saw fit to provide us back in the 90s, but it’s something. This game is worthy of a little celebration, and ten dollars more than suggested retail is more than worth it to me.

If you haven’t previously enjoyed Lunar: Silver Star Story in one of its many forms, then now’s a perfect time to do so as it arrives on the ever-metamorphosizing PSP.

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This generation Japanese RPGs haven’t really ridden the momentum they had going for them during the PS2 days. Both the PS1 and the PS2 were literally an everlasting cave of wonders for gamers who love JRPGs. Unfortunately this generation I can’t say the same yet, with only a handful of them out 3-4 years into this generation, none of them are really much to write home about. My optimism hasn’t been flushed down the toilet yet, because aside from the powerhouse that is Final Fantasy XIII, there are still a few such as Resonance of Fate and White Knight Chronicles coming down the pipeline with something worth offering to the genre. Today I got a little hands on time with the PS3 exclusive White Knight Chronicles to see what this has different in store for us.

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iPod owners were treated to the melodical charms of Square Enix’s portable pet project, Song Summoner, with the advent of games for the popular music device. However, with the advent of the iPod Touch and iPhone, support for games that depended on the click-wheel dwindled. Suddenly, it wasn’t about using a circular control area anymore. Thus, gamers expecting to nab this wholly underrated musical journey were dismayed, as there has been no re-release to support touchy-feely iPhone users.

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Let’s face it — the Japanese RPG genre has stagnated over the years. While we are graced with the occasional hit title that we can’t cease heaping praise upon, we are also buried under hundreds of knockoffs that bring The Last Remnant to mind, or (at best) poor imitations of Final Fantasy. For a console generation with so much power, you’d think that Western offerings wouldn’t always outshine Eastern offerings that once enthralled and overjoyed its fanbase, myself included. In the case of Magna Carta 2, this modest and wholly underrated RPG fulfills its humble mission to prove that we need not be mired in the ways of the classic JRPG. It’s gorgeous on the outside, and it also boasts genuine charm and nouveau excitement. And that’s just what the doctor ordered.

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I started playing Demon’s Souls the day it was released.  I hadn’t actually planned on buying it.  With Uncharted 2 and Brutal Legend still taking up plenty of my game time, as well as a backlog the size of Montana sitting on my shelves, I didn’t think I’d have time for a long-winded, reportedly brutal dungeon crawler.  But I was bored and I love tossing money out my windows, so I bought it.

It’s easily been my best impulse yet this year, and one of my best ever.  This game has literally changed the way I see role playing games and what I am now expecting from future renditions in this genre.

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Comic book heroes, RPG-lite mechanics, and a whole lot of silliness go a long way when it comes to gaming. Even if you’re not on the up-and-up with Tony Stark’s background or Deadpool’s merc-with-a-mouth ‘tude, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 can still quench your thirst for a powerful, entertaining adventure that grips you with all its might and seldom lets go. It resonates with the dulcet tones of the original game, providing that feel-good jolt that you sometimes need in this day and age, what with all the underwhelming games being released for no good reason (Ju-On, anyone?). While it may not have technically improved over its predecessor in too many discernible ways, it’s just plain fun. 

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Shin Megami Tensei fans have had a lot to be happy about lately, and it looks like Atlus is giving MegaTen fans even more to smile about.  Today they officially announced their newest SMT game, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey for Nintendo DS. One of the first original entries in the franchise in recent history, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is a first-person sci-fi RPG that has already received the highest Famitsu review score in Shin Megami Tensei history.

Hit the break for some more details on the story, a few screens, and some concept art.

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