Cross Edge

by NIS AMerica

Product Features

• Change costumes to increase character's stats and abilities, and in some cases "revealing" cut scenes.
• Features characters and storylines from popular franchises including: Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Mana Khemia, and Spectral Souls.
• Combines classic RPG combat with a grid-based Strategy RPG combat to create a hybrid battle system.
• In combat, some units can toss up enemies and chain combo various moves for extra damage, like in a fighting game.
• Cross Edge is bilingual. Players have the option to choose between English or Japanese voiceovers.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001P2PW3M
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 6.7 x 0.6 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 26, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,722 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #25 in Video Games > PlayStation 3 > Role-Playing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Cross Edge is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between five major Japanese game publishers. Nippon Ichi Software, Capcom, Namco Bandai, Gust, and Idea Factory have joined forces to create a Strategy RPG unlike any other and exclusive to PlayStation 3. Costume system that increases character potency. View larger. Combo driven attack system. View larger. Classic RPG level and stats. View larger. Cross Edge features characters and storylines from popular franchises including: Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Mana Khemia, and Spectral Souls. Cross Edge is action-packed with memorable characters, amazing items, and over-the-top battles to deliver an once-in-a-lifetime gaming experience. Story The story of Cross Edge follows the adventures of hero and heroine York Neely and Miki Aiba. Awaking in a strange world, they are soon sought out by a little girl named May. She tells them that the world around them was created from souls gathered from other worlds and that if this stealing of souls from other places does not stop, sooner or later those other places--that is reality--will disappear forever. To stop this from happening they will have to defeat this new world's evil master by releasing all the souls now confined to his nightmare world. To do this they will need all the special abilities that they possess, as well as the help they will gain from others that they meet on their travels. Gameplay Cross Edge is a traditional Japanese role-playing game complete with world map, random battles, level grinding, item combining/creation using alchemy, etc. It also features heroes and villains from game franchises published by Gust, Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai and Idea Factory. As players set about freeing the trapped souls supporting the nightmare world that they are stuck in, they engage in turn-based team battles. This is where the characters from previous games come in. Players must enlist them to join in party-based battles. Success in these battles is based on the ability to string together specific moves into chain attack sequences, which in turn unlock even stronger combinations when successful. Players can also increase their characters' stats and abilities by acquiring additional costumes called 'forms' and redressing their characters in them. Female characters physical appearances can also be changed based on the form they're wearing. The goal of the game is to release souls. You can find and collect souls by searching around area maps. Exposure to souls can grant players items or unlock events. Along with soul related events, maps will also point players to other helpful locations such as event points, points at which other events may occur, and save points, where you can save your game as well as buy, sell and trade items. Key Features Cross Edge combines classic RPG combat with a grid-based Strategy RPG combat to create a hybrid battle system. In combat, a square grid will appear beneath the units. Some units are better at close combat and others at a distance, so players must strategically move their units to battle enemies. In combat, some units can toss up enemies and chain combo various moves for extra damage, like in a fighting game. By using characters from Gust titles, players can use alchemy to craft weapons. Change costumes to increase character’s stats and abilities, and in some cases revealing cut scenes. Explore dungeons to run, jump and attack. Cross Edge is bilingual. Players have the option to choose between English or Japanese voiceovers. Add to your PlayStation trophy collection as you play through the game.

Product Description

WHERE WOULD YOU STAND WHEN FIVE WORLDS COLLIDE? Cross Edge is an unprecedented collaboration between five major game publishers from Japan. Nippon Ichi Software, Capcom, Namco Bandai, Gust, and Idea Factory have joined forces to create a Strategy RPG unlike any other. Cross Edge features characters and storylines from popular franchises including: Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Mana Khemia, and Spectral Souls. Cross Edge is action-packed with memorable characters, amazing items, and over-thetop battles to deliver an once-in-a-lifetime gaming experience.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting spin on the Oldschool RPG formula, September 22, 2009

By 

D. A. Theisen (WI, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cross Edge (Video Game)

Do you miss the old days of RPGs? Large character rosters, recurring enemies, sprawling worlds, dialogue that makes little sense at best? Good news! Cross Edge is, for better or worse, the most interesting attempt at a re-invention of the oldschool 8 and 16-bit RPGs that I've seen in years. It also happens to be one of the most addicting, complex but sometimes downright frustrating titles to roll onto a console in recent memory. Let it be said in advance that, despite my scoring a 7 of 10, this is certainly the most fun and most I've played any title with such a score. There's a lot to love here, but a lot of it happens to be flawed as well.


To say Cross Edge, from Nippon Ichi Software (best known for the Disgaea series), appears to be a niche title is an understatement. Not only does it meet 100% of the qualifications of the infamous JRPG formula, but its premise is based on a mashing together of settings and characters from the other titles in the NIS software lineup. In other words, it's a JRPG made up of JRPGs. Confused yet? Good. Oddly, that's part of the appeal here. You could think of the Cross Edge running as the Kingdom Hearts series of NIS. The only notable pitfall with this is that sales are a magnitude of 10 lower than the titles that comprise Square-Enix's set.

You'll be starting your adventure in the usual unknown land with mysterious creatures. In no time flat, you're sucking in new characters to your lineup. A lot of characters, actually. To be precise there are 32 voice actors listed for characters in the end credits, if you'd like some warning as to what's in store. Whether you known the characters in advance or not, you'll find them to all have their quirks. This is backed up with all the goofy dialogue you could ever ask for and a character for every RPG stereotype you can think of. The introduction to the game's combat system and basic mechanics is straightforward and will have you strutting ahead with confidence in your first levels.

Sadly, you'll probably be reconsidering that confidence in a hurry, as the learning curve becomes very steep, very fast. By the time all the game features such as item synthesis and upgrading become available you'll start to get an idea of what you've gotten yourself into. Take however insane you think that is and multiply by about 100, and you'll barely be scratching the surface of everything that's crammed on to this game. Speaking of said features, they're accessible at 'Save Points' around the map. I only mention the name specifically because, ironically, they're not where you save your game (you can do this anytime you're on the open world map), but it is where you do your business including the incredibly important revival of dead characters. Though you can revive them mid-battle, if combat ends with them KO'd you'll need to pay to have them healed here.

You certainly don't need to dive right into synthesis, but it will become a necessary evil as you move along. The usual reaction to this is "can't I just buy everything at the shop?". The answer is no, no you can't. You start out with only a very limited number of things you can buy and the only way to lengthen this list is via crafting it so it will appear for later purchase. Although this doesn't apply to all items (such as special weapons with unique traits), it does work for all the incredibly important medicines so that you'll have a constant supply of them if needed. If you'd like a further demonstration of how important synthesis can become, the later gear available to you can only be made using a combination of existing items combined with items dropped from monsters and items you receive from converting your old gear. Yikes. Seriously, I don't know how to accurately describe it all. The tutorials are acceptable, but no matter what you're trying to make you'll be handed a screen loaded from edge-to-edge with numbers representing different stats of the item in question. The frightening thing about this isn't so much that you're given this much info, but that all the numbers actually mean something and are something you'll have to keep track of.

In case just synthesis wasn't enough for you, there are also three very important ways to enhance the equipment you already have. Double yikes. One is to use 'EP' (one of no less than 8 types of 'points' you'll have to follow) to upgrade items between levels 1 and 5. Generally speaking this is a cheap and effective way to improve your performance, as a level 5 older item will outperform something several tiers higher. Second, you can use some of the items dropped by monsters in combat to supplement the stats of your gear. Each piece of equipment has a certain point balance which dictate how much upgrading you can do via items, and one of the eventual benefits to synthesis is that the point allowance can be much larger if you can create a high-quality item (again, using items dropped from monsters as material). Lastly, equipment has a certain number of slots that you can equip a bonus skill in. These are mostly the RPG-standard things like HP regeneration and attack bonuses, though there are dozens total. Unsurprisingly, these traits are not handed to you either, and it requires upgrading a piece of equipment to level 5 and then "converting" it in order to make it into a skill you can place on something else. Triple yikes.

The other major feature Save Points is the "Database" menu, which is something quite unique to Cross Edge. Here you can earn extra loot via earning Titles (basically mini-quests or monster hunting), and your discovery of treasure and plot events along the way will unlock costumes for everyone. Equipping a costume will change the stats of your characters in one way or another, either increasing or decreasing certain attributes. If you'd like to keep things simpler, there is at least one generic "add HP and little else" costume for everyone which can make obtaining these rather important. As a very JRPG-ish feature, equipping a costume on a female character changes their appearance on menus and in cutscenes. Thankfully, the most ridiculous of costumes such as swimsuits change stats such that they're impossible to leave equipped for combat and will keep your perverted mind at least a bit in check.

Wandering the world map isn't the standard you'll see in most other games. Most of note is the random encounter warning device, which is color ranging from blue and green to red when it's time to fight something. The farther you walk the more the color changes. Although untraditional and nonsensical, it's actually an awesome feature. Even better, if you deliberately want to fight something during exp grinding or the like, you can force a fight by pressing R1. No longer do you need to spin around in circles waiting for something to smack you in the face. Good times. While walking around you'll be searching for "Souls" (explained in the storyline), which take the form of treasure for you to collect or mark plot events around the map. One somewhat frustrating thing is that, although a lot of these events are optional, some of them you absolutely must find in order to trigger the next main plot event from appearing on the map. It can get tedious, and you will need to re-search earlier areas for new events and treasure after you move on, but doing this actually eliminates the need for substantial exp grind on normal difficulty. Merely searching should keep your levels up and will earn you Titles for the better rewards.

Your eventual opinion of the game will most certainly hinge on what you think of the battle system. It could well add or subtract 2 full points on a scale of 10 to a review score, depending on what you make of it. It's that important. No, wait. It's that COMPLICATED, I mean. In total seriousness, I have old calculus textbooks that are more straightforward than all the depth of battle here. If you peek at some game screenshots you'll get some kind of idea, as you'll note that the character and ability displays take over half the screen. Quadruple yikes. It'll take you many hours to get used to how all the different bars and arrows and numbers work. This is either a really GOOD thing, or really BAD thing, depending on how you like your RPGs. It makes the game a massive turn-off to new or more casual players, but it is massively rewarding to people who sink their teeth into it.

In short (lol?), combat is in the tried-and-true method of standing face-to-face with your foes on a flat plain. In a bit of a throwback to the old front row/back row **** each side of the field is split into a 3x4 grid of places you can stand. This is important to use and you must master positioning to be successful in combat. Depending on the character and the ability you'd like to use they have different ranges and lateral distances, so you need to think ahead to where you want to stand. For example, a member with a sword will need to stand in front to hit targets, but even then may not be able to hit the enemy back row. Your magic users need a minimum distance to cast so they'll have to stand back, but then they might not be able to reach the far targets either. Versus bosses your placement also becomes vital since you want to minimize how many characters the strongest abilities can hit at the same time. It might prevent you from a Game Over, but it makes shifting around for healing more complicated and, uh... sorry. My brain just froze for a second.

On both sides of battle, combat is run via an AP system. You get a certain number of points per turn based on your equipment, its level, your costume, etc.. With it you have up to 8 abilities per character that will become available, each of which have a different AP cost and range/area effects. Each also has a certain attack 'type' (direct, magical, break, etc.), an element... Read more ›

71 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Play it for more than three hours, June 1, 2009

By 

Henry Y. Chang - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Cross Edge (Video Game)

Please do not listen to anybody who plays a game for 3 hours then writes a review about it.

The depth in this game is amazing! I have been yearning for a good classic style RPG on the PS3 for a long time now and this satisfies my every need.

As far as the "clunky" menu, I have no idea what the above reviewer is doing who supposedly is some kind of expert playing RPG's (pshhh). The menus are SIMPLE and pretty straight-forward after 10 minutes of gameplay. There are functions later on that become more useful, but I really cannot say the menus are bad.

You CANNOT play a game of this depth for THREE hours and then review it. There's 100's of hours of gameplay, tons of weapons and armor, hidden items, hidden characters, and you're going to write a review after THREE FREAKING HOURS?

I did not give this game 5 stars because it does not make use of the PS3's next-gen system in terms of graphics and audio. However, this game absolutely proves that a solid gameplay system, incredible depth and wonderful characters make a game, not the visuals. My only gripe is I wish I could skip the movies because should I choose to replay it, they take forever (press start button to auto-forward)

To add to this review, even more hours into it, I understand why some people may not like it, but some reviews sound more like sour grapes and attacks rather than objective reviews. There are drawbacks to it which a lot of reviews have harped on already.

To give more detail though, as far as why I enjoy the game:

1. Battle System - Wonderfully implemented in my opinion. I hate, hate, hate the new style of "action" rpg's where it's basically Tomb Raider with RPG elements, ala Phantasy Star for the PSP. I also got tired of having forever to choose your actions as there was a sense of drama and suspense missing there. The gameplay system here is fast paced enough with the combo timer to keep me interested. I was also relieved to not have to run around and mash buttons like an action game.

2. The depth - There's just too much stuff here to discover and probably has overwhelmed people to the point that they don't like the game. There is a huge amount of combos, synth items and immeasurable ways to upgrade items through the composite function. Some people may loathe the depth, some people may love it, like me.

Give this game a chance, do not base your review on one simple-minded baby who gave up and said "whaaah, I'mma bash this game on Amazon because I'm not a God in this game three hours into it". If a reviewer has a negative opinion of this game, see whether or not he is objective or just sounds spiteful. I realize that there are always going to be different opinions about games, but good and bad alike, the must be subjective and give reasons. You would not take this seriously if all I wrote was "THIS GAME IS SOOOO AWESOME, GET IT!!!!"

UPDATE: I am going to add this as I realize I have come off as attacking the negative reviewer and apologize for that. I just felt the first review was written by a spiteful person who decided to not invest the time necessary to form an opinion on a deep RPG, which I felt is what and RPG should be. My apologies for any inappropriate comments. I have left my review intact instead of editing it as I do not want to change it based on comments, but realize that the tone may have gotten out of hand.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite enjoyable, Very artistic, June 6, 2009

By 

Blue "Blue" (Alabama) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Cross Edge (Video Game)

Okay, first off let me say that I have NOT finished the game yet. However, I can say that I am having a lot of fun with it. This game recieves a lot of flak for having "bad quality." The people saying this obviously do not know the kind of style this game is going for. Mana Khemia, Ar Tonelico, and of course, Disgaea, all use this type of stylized spriting combined with character art. It enhances the artistic quality of the game. Anyway, this is all aesthetics. It has nothing to do with actual gameplay, and anyone who refuses to play a game based on aesthetics is not a good judge of quality. Moving on---
The gameplay is fluid and fastpaced. Formation adds depth. The Skill system makes battles streamlined. The battles are fast. The game is hard, but not too difficult. It does suffer from a steep curve, enemies getting very strong, very quickly, however this could just be based on my own play style.
The soundtrack is great. The voice acting is excelent.
Please give this game a chance!