This is my first review, so let's see how useful it is. Thanks for any feedback!
Record of Agarest War is a strange game.
I'm not saying that based off the characters or the gameplay - both of which are excellent, but safe enough to not alienate veterans of the genre - but more off of the marketing tactics. The creators of Agarest, a hybrid strategy JRPG and dating sim (we'll get back to that), apparently thought it would be too difficult to stand out in the competitive RPG field in the states, and decided to package the Xbox retail version of the game with a sexy pillowcase, a soundtrack featuring a graphic of a gothic girl bending over, and a boobie mousepad. All this served to backfire their marketing, since Gamestop refused to put the ridiculously over-sexualized box on shelves.
Now back to the game. You start as Leonhardt, a young general who rather than kill innocent children during an invasion, fights back against his commanders and their dark allies. Naturally, he is then horrifically killed. A spirit/demigod/hot-chick-in-bikini named Dyshana appears before him, telling Leo that if he sells his soul and the souls of all his descendants to her, she will grant him the power to destroy evil and save the world. So begins a 100+ hour strategy RPG with over thirty party members, most of which are women from men's fantasies (the angel and the pirate for example) or dressed in Japanese fetish outfits (the French maid and gothic lolita).
The dating sim aspect of the game actually serves an integral plot purpose. The game is broken up into five 20-hour segments, each telling the story of Leonhardt or one of his descendants fighting evil on a different continent. At the end of each generation, the hero of that generation chooses a bride from three eligible party members, marries her, and conceives the hero of the next generation. Most of the brides are well developed, and you don't necessarily get to pick the one you want - you have to woo her, say the right things, and finally ask her to marry you. Each bride changes the statistics of the hero of the next generation, and so on and so on, leaving dozens of potential combinations. That is, of course, if you don't care about feelings and just want a hero with wings and a bloody longsword.
Agarest plays it safe in a variety of ways, but does not feel boring because of it. The combat tutorials and system are a bit dense, but easy to get used to after a few battles. Most characters fall into JRPG archetypes (the warrior, the innocent child, the treasure hunter, the whore), but become developed enough to not weigh down the game. Due to the nature of the narrative, a new character in a generation the player may find annoying could disappear by the next, since the brides and hero of each generation do not cross over. Some players will find this aggravating, having leveled up a character only to have them disappear. The storyline is remarkably linear, though players choices allow different paths to be taken to reach the same final destination. A decision in one generation may change something in the next, including the acquisition of some party members, so the player does feel like he has significant input.
More than anything, though, voice acting for this game should be given a gold star for a very simple reason: they did not dub it. Dubbing in JRPGs can be pretty terrible, and this game lets the characters shine by translating the text while retaining the original actors. This may have been a budget decision, but I applaud them for it. Some voices are still annoying, but don't hit the mind-melting level of annoying an English voice actor might.
Record of Agarest War could have gotten by on its sexuality alone, but shows its more than just a few sets of giant knockers. Almost every female character portrays depth without the need for lengthy cutscenes (the longest pre-rendered cinematic is less than a minute) or hammered-in exposition. Real emotions come across in exchanges, especially later in the game. One character in the third generation particularly shines, leaving the player disappointed in a good way at her brief appearance. Bosses are a lesson in frustration, bargaining, strategy, and finally triumph. Several incredibly difficult sections of the game will find the player pulling hair out, but all have real, non-grinding solutions of party makeup, battlefield position, and elemental weaknesses. Also, you can't save while in dungeons. They are short, the longest being about thirty minutes, but aggravating to re-do when the boss kills you over and over and over again. Otherwise, combat follows the same pattern most strategy RPGs do - surround, combo, collect xp. The crafting system and component collection are dense and unimaginative, but completely optional.
If a lover of JRPGs is still on the fence about this, let me put this forward for the savvy consumer: A Collector's Edition of a game, a game that will take weeks, if not months, to beat, comes with physical extras, the bonus digital content built in (five extra dungeons), and a soundtrack CD, all for $60. This would be a $90 "deal" for any other game. Hopefully, if enough players can be convinced to buy this overlooked, boob-covered title, the studio will continue to bring their games over to the states.
Record of Agarest War is a strange game.
I'm not saying that based off the characters or the gameplay - both of which are excellent, but safe enough to not alienate veterans of the genre - but more off of the marketing tactics. The creators of Agarest, a hybrid strategy JRPG and dating sim (we'll get back to that), apparently thought it would be too difficult to stand out in the competitive RPG field in the states, and decided to package the Xbox retail version of the game with a sexy pillowcase, a soundtrack featuring a graphic of a gothic girl bending over, and a boobie mousepad. All this served to backfire their marketing, since Gamestop refused to put the ridiculously over-sexualized box on shelves.
Now back to the game. You start as Leonhardt, a young general who rather than kill innocent children during an invasion, fights back against his commanders and their dark allies. Naturally, he is then horrifically killed. A spirit/demigod/hot-chick-in-bikini named Dyshana appears before him, telling Leo that if he sells his soul and the souls of all his descendants to her, she will grant him the power to destroy evil and save the world. So begins a 100+ hour strategy RPG with over thirty party members, most of which are women from men's fantasies (the angel and the pirate for example) or dressed in Japanese fetish outfits (the French maid and gothic lolita).
The dating sim aspect of the game actually serves an integral plot purpose. The game is broken up into five 20-hour segments, each telling the story of Leonhardt or one of his descendants fighting evil on a different continent. At the end of each generation, the hero of that generation chooses a bride from three eligible party members, marries her, and conceives the hero of the next generation. Most of the brides are well developed, and you don't necessarily get to pick the one you want - you have to woo her, say the right things, and finally ask her to marry you. Each bride changes the statistics of the hero of the next generation, and so on and so on, leaving dozens of potential combinations. That is, of course, if you don't care about feelings and just want a hero with wings and a bloody longsword.
Agarest plays it safe in a variety of ways, but does not feel boring because of it. The combat tutorials and system are a bit dense, but easy to get used to after a few battles. Most characters fall into JRPG archetypes (the warrior, the innocent child, the treasure hunter, the whore), but become developed enough to not weigh down the game. Due to the nature of the narrative, a new character in a generation the player may find annoying could disappear by the next, since the brides and hero of each generation do not cross over. Some players will find this aggravating, having leveled up a character only to have them disappear. The storyline is remarkably linear, though players choices allow different paths to be taken to reach the same final destination. A decision in one generation may change something in the next, including the acquisition of some party members, so the player does feel like he has significant input.
More than anything, though, voice acting for this game should be given a gold star for a very simple reason: they did not dub it. Dubbing in JRPGs can be pretty terrible, and this game lets the characters shine by translating the text while retaining the original actors. This may have been a budget decision, but I applaud them for it. Some voices are still annoying, but don't hit the mind-melting level of annoying an English voice actor might.
Record of Agarest War could have gotten by on its sexuality alone, but shows its more than just a few sets of giant knockers. Almost every female character portrays depth without the need for lengthy cutscenes (the longest pre-rendered cinematic is less than a minute) or hammered-in exposition. Real emotions come across in exchanges, especially later in the game. One character in the third generation particularly shines, leaving the player disappointed in a good way at her brief appearance. Bosses are a lesson in frustration, bargaining, strategy, and finally triumph. Several incredibly difficult sections of the game will find the player pulling hair out, but all have real, non-grinding solutions of party makeup, battlefield position, and elemental weaknesses. Also, you can't save while in dungeons. They are short, the longest being about thirty minutes, but aggravating to re-do when the boss kills you over and over and over again. Otherwise, combat follows the same pattern most strategy RPGs do - surround, combo, collect xp. The crafting system and component collection are dense and unimaginative, but completely optional.
If a lover of JRPGs is still on the fence about this, let me put this forward for the savvy consumer: A Collector's Edition of a game, a game that will take weeks, if not months, to beat, comes with physical extras, the bonus digital content built in (five extra dungeons), and a soundtrack CD, all for $60. This would be a $90 "deal" for any other game. Hopefully, if enough players can be convinced to buy this overlooked, boob-covered title, the studio will continue to bring their games over to the states.