Sonic Chronicles Quick Review: Another nail in the coffin.

[......]

Correction. I now have ALL the characters. All of their stats are almost exactly the same. I have nothing against defense being the highest stat, just not for EVERYONE. That lacks variety. And when I say characters get more turns and do more damage because they JUST DO, I mean that it is an innate trait of the character that is not displayed in their status screen anywhere and their stats have little, if any effect on it at all. What good are the stats for, again? And nobody in this game has tanking skills. There isn't enough difference in HP (which is a stat), for anyone to be considered a decent tank. And the "support" characters barely amount to anything, either. This is a weak attempt at character balance, not a successful one.

Perhaps I should have clarified my statement on the difficulty. This game is easy. The battles are drug-out and annoying rather than fun, which includes when you attack 5 times and miss all 5 attacks, but your enemy attacks 5 times and all 5 of them hit you. The enemy didn't kill me, but it's still very annoying and when I can't hit them but they can hit me, I deemed that "getting smacked around", not "getting beaten and losing the game".

Yes, it is a DS. How would you like it if the only input device on your computer that worked was the mouse and the keyboard completely stopped functioning except for the "shift" key? Maybe if the steering wheel on your car worked but not the pedals? That would make great use of the device, right?

I have noticed the "pops" in the audio when I say "P" sounds. I've been trying to stop that but I can never seem to get rid of them completely.

 

[Bob_F_It]

If you want variety in the stats, then it's all up to you to install that; you were given the option to pump different stats up at every level, and the "auto-level" button won't do this. And what difference in HP do you want? 2 times? 5 times? The gap I see operates perfectly well for my tanks.

I'm also going to throw my hat into the "you don't know how to do POW moves" ring. The accuracy of the buttons is fine; you're probably screwing up the timing by hitting them the moment they appear instead of when the two circles meet and go green. If defence is your highest stat and you were doing POWs correctly, you wouldn't be getting hit.

 

[Crunchy English]

The Characters may have the same stats, but they have different "classes" which is one thing that is switching things up.

I dunno, the game was super easy, I bought it, beat it and sold it back all in a small amount of time. New Game+ for a game like this is kinda pointless although it was available. But I don't think easy is a bad thing. The Sonic packaging probably means this was meant as like a "My First RPG" for incredibly young gamers, and since Bioware makes nothing but RPGs, and great ones, that's a good idea for their future.

The characters are significantly less annoying than in other games,
Timing is all that's required for and it makes it vaguely more interesting than selecting things with a menu.
The story was weak, but if anyone attempts to convince me that this game "Fails to live up to Sonic's high narrative standards" I will shoot them in the pride.

All in all, a needlessly negative review, and a largely uninformed one, trying to take a cheap shot at a license that has been easy pickings for about a decade.

EDIT- Got all up on my high horse and forgot something positive I wanted to say right at the beginning.

Thank you for at least writing a review at all. That takes guts, especially when guys like me tear into you over it. Please don't be discouraged at all, especially if people disagree with you. You put an opinion out there, albeit not one I share, and stood by it and didn't start name calling or getting hyper-defensive.

 

[weirdaljedifan2]

It is a nice review and all but all I really heard was, in a not trying to be an asshole kind of way,"I suck at the game, therefore the game sucks." I actually kinda found it weird that you had a tough time with the controls while a lot of other people got it down fast. Also, patience is something you need in order to play an RPG. Now I ask you, is it REALLY another nail in the coffin or are you the only person who is saying that?


EDIT: I re-watched this review half way and I want to point out some things you said:

1:"Virtually Unplayable" umm.....WHAT?

2:If the D-pad and A, B, X, Y buttons did what they were supposed to do, the stylus would do absolutely nothing except be an optional thing for selecting items, and like you said the stylus has to do SOMETHING other than be an optional tool of use.

3:Are you aware that this game is an RPG, right?

4:What do you mean that Bioware took the mistakes and put them all into this game? What are you talking about? I hate it when reviewers nitpick something that has nothing to do with what anyone really cares about in the games and then give it a low score. For example, did Sonic Adventure 2: Battle have terrible voice actors, undeniably, was it a good game, YES!

 

[GloatingSwine]

What good are the stats for, again? And nobody in this game has tanking skills. There isn't enough difference in HP (which is a stat), for anyone to be considered a decent tank.

Yeah there is. Big. One skill forces enemies to attack him and reduces damage he takes, another makes him regenerate.

And the "support" characters barely amount to anything, either. This is a weak attempt at character balance, not a successful one.

I guess you missed Little Miss Broken then, Cream, who can restore 5PP to everyone at a cost of 7, which with an economiser and a PP regenerating chao means she can do so every turn.

Yes, it is a DS. How would you like it if the only input device on your computer that worked was the mouse and the keyboard completely stopped functioning except for the "shift" key? Maybe if the steering wheel on your car worked but not the pedals? That would make great use of the device, right?

If I was playing a game which could completely adequately be controlled using only the mouse and shift key, then it wouldn't be a problem, would it? Seriously, think before analogising.