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Product Description
Edition: Limited Edition
Amazon.com
One day, the world was enveloped by a mysterious blinding light. The destruction it caused was terrible, even as the light itself was sublime in its beauty, and it made those who witnessed the awesome display think of the unrestrained rage and fury of the divine.
Limited Edition
Visually stunning action RPG
Turn Based Battles
Synopsis
The central continent, from where the light is believed to have originated from, went silent, while at the same time demons began to spread throughout the world like a plague. Amongst the survivors of the catastrophe, that fateful day became known as the "Day of Light."
Sometime after the events of the Day of Light, a young man by the name of Weiss, who had lost all memory of himself, encounters an enigmatic woman named Eva, who introduces herself as an Agent of the Divine. It is from her that Weiss learns that he has committed the grievous sin of deicide, and that in order for him to atone for his crime he is to become the "Vessel" in which the power of the divinity he had slaughtered will be stored. For it will be that power that will be used to resurrect the one whose life he stole.
For those who betray the divine will pay for their sins in the space which separates salvation and damnation, as will their progeny...
Key Features:
- Revamped Battle System: Unlike the first two games of the series, Agarest 2 battles are fought with an engaging active grid-based battle system.
- HD graphics: Enjoy your favorite characters, environments and CGs in high-definition!
- Mini-games: Engage in PlayStation®Move compatible Bathtub, Shiatsu, and Massage mini-games.
- New Agarest Universe: Roam freely in the newly designed world of Agarest
Limited Edition Includes:
- Inflatable Felenne Doll
- Exclusive 8" x 12" Hand Towel
- Collectible Artbook
Product Description
Record of Agarest War 2 features all new strategy RPG gameplay, HD graphics and bonus mini games
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Edition:Limited Edition
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Aksys' newest releases, outside of the stellar "BlazBlue" franchise, have been leaving me in the cold. A lot of the titles they've been cranking out recently come across as blatant pitches to snag the smallest niche of anime fans, with uninspired plots, girls with chests bigger than their head, and an emphasis on cheesecake versus original characters and good gameplay. Coming from a lifelong anime fan, that's saying something. Now, on the surface, the "Agarest War" franchise looked no different. Here we had marketing reliant on the sexualization of the female characters and no real information about the game itself, and the bonus items which came with the collector's editions reeked of sleaze. Superficially, I hated the game. But with its devoted fanbase, and because a friend with connections pulled aside a copy because he thought I'd like it, I decided to give this new entry a go. Lo and behold, it has turned out to be one of the rare RPGs I plan on playing to completion. "Record of Agarest War 2" is nothing groundbreaking, but it's unique and original enough to merit a play.
The plot starts you off in the shoes of Weiss, who has killed a god but lost all memory of the incident. After a chance encounter with a mysterious and buxom woman clad in borderline dominatrix gear, he is informed that he is in fact to serve as a vessel to atone for the sin of slaying a god, and if he fails his task, he must shack up with a woman and create a child that will serve as a new vessel. As the game progresses, you will indeed have to do just that, and through the span of multiple generations, you'll fight hoards of demons, score with some lovely ladies, and uncover the destiny of your bloodline.
Now, this generation spanning is something that has apparently been a focal point of the entries prior to this one, but as a first-time player, I have to admit that it's absolutely fascinating. Depending on how you interact with the woman you choose as your bride, and how you adjust your statistics through battling, your protagonist's predecessor will change. The sheer notion of a piece of entertainment having such an in-depth feature is definitely a sign that there are some things the interactive medium can do that movies and books will simply never be able to. In fact, I feel that this should have been a primary selling point instead of the cleavage and rear ends of the admittedly attractive ladies in the game.
As far as the gameplay goes, it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I play plenty of JRPGs, and a decent amount of the occasional SRPG, I found myself kind of lost when it came to navigating the plethora of statistics, menus, and other things. While the core combat system is actually quite good (an interesting mix of turn-based fighting mixed with the speed, action and control of a hack-and-slash game, coupled with a dual-grid system), the amount of effort it takes to plan out what gear to equip and whatnot is just irksome. It definitely feels like the developers were intending to make the game come across as "deeper" by just adding more hoops to jump through than necessary. The experience as a whole could have benefited from some serious reduction in menu clutter.
What makes up for this, in a way, is the very snazzy way battles are paced. There are three or four different types of maps you will find yourself navigated. One is the standard World Map that you run around on to get from one place to another. While you will still encounter random battles, you also have the option to trigger a battle at any time. When grinding for levels, this is an indispensable feature that other RPGs with random encounters should take note of. Having the ability to sit in one place and grind levels until you feel confident enough to progress is a very empowering feeling. The second type of map you'll be navigating are what you might call this game's "dungeons." Bridging areas of the World Map are smaller maps that are divided into several different zones that you progress through in a board game-like fashion. Each tile you progress to instigates a battle, and you can fight as few or as many times as you like. There are diverging paths that feature treasure and other goodies to claim, as well as tiles that will help you meet requirements on the main town's commission board, which will net you spells, armor, and ingredients required for alchemy and blacksmithing.
Speaking of towns, it houses the third kind of map you'll see. It's a menu that you pick locations on, and then go to them. Pretty straightforward, I know, but it segways into the second major focal point of this game: the dating sim aspect. Now, "Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love" set my standard for what to expect from a dating sim/RPG hybrid, and while this certainly doesn't exceed that experience in my book, due to the fairly limited range of conversation, it does almost match it. What it does beat that game in, however, are the production values. Instead of static images, the lovely ladies (and handsome men, if you're into that) are fully animated, living and breathing, all with unique animation that creates an interesting 2D/3D hybrid. This makes the experience as a whole so much more engaging than many other games that try and touch the SW franchise's signature dating sim/RPG blend. I enjoyed getting to know the cast through the interactions, and despite the aforementioned limited conversational choices, it's a defining feature that sets it apart from imitators.
However, while the overall story arc and character development is exceptional in "RoAW2", I have a serious bone to pick with the dialogue. If you're familiar with the worn cliche many gamers hold about JRPGs, about them having seemingly endless amounts of inane banter that is ultimately redundant, then you know where I'm going with this complaint. To be entirely honest, several lines of conversation in this game have bored me to death, and I like to think that I have a pretty large attention span. But it can't be helped. Characters repeat each other's dialogue, and characters making awkward pauses such as, "Uh-!", "Oh, uh-!" or the infamous "...", happens way too often, frequently occurring multiple times in a row with certain characters. I'm not saying the dialogue is awful, but it's tiresome and wears on the nerves after a while, making the experience seem longer than it is. An "autoplay" option helps alleviate the pain somewhat, but only a bit. The story is good, the characters are great, but the dialogue needed some serious work. Also, the font and styling of the text is formatted in a very odd manner. Things are surrounded by hyphens when they should be either italicized, capitalized, or put into quotations, making the emphasis in some dialogue only understandable when the voice actor actually speaks it. Also worth noting is that there is no English voice track. That doesn't bother me one bit, but some may be deterred by that.
Graphically, the game is quite pretty. What really stands out are the exceptional monster designs. Most of the enemies break free of the typical trappings of fantasy RPGs, and some of them are surprisingly frightful to gaze upon. The environments are nice and varied, and the character art is very crisp and appealing to look at. That same overall sentiment can be echoed for the soundtrack, which is infectious and passable enough to give praise to. Nothing too new, but nothing terrible. Overall, pleasant and helps to whisk you off into the fantasy world of the game, which is sometimes too much to ask some soundtracks for. It's always nice when it does happen, though.
With Square Enix focused on running their two main franchises into the ground, and Atlus branching out into new, more varied territory, it's nice to see Aksys putting out a game that screams niche. But furthermore, it's nice to see that some of these games are quite good, such as this one. While "Record of Agarest War 2" will not change your life, it will entertain and thrill you. Futhermore, it will draw you into its own little world, and with games of this variety, what more can you really ask for? This is a solid little game with plenty of nice imagery, a good story, and memorable characters; in this critic's opinion, it's a great title to spend your Summer downtime working on.
Plot: 8
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Overall: 8
P.S.: A couple of notes on the Limited Edition of the game. The artbox it comes in is pretty and well-designed, and is decked out with art that differentiates from that of the cover illustration, so if you're into collecting those like I am, then you'll be pleased to know it will look great on your shelf. Now, the main draw here is definitely the blow-up doll of catgirl Felenne, and trust me, it's every bit as adorable as it looks. What's refreshing is that the plastic used for it isn't the cheap stuff; this thing seems pretty durable, and it's a decent size as well at around 9 inches (10 if you count her cat ears.) As for the hand towel, it has exclusive character art on it, and it is wrapped in a heart-shaped sandwiched between two pictures of Fiona; it reads "A Wonderful Tower Experience." Yeah, nothing sexual about that at all, huh? Speaking of sexual things, there's the art book. Now, I was a little disappointed by the paper quality of the book, because it's really just the same kind of glossy paper used for higher-end instruction manuals. As for the illustrations, well, erm... they'll all pretty dang suggestive. I mean, we're talking borderline softcore pornography, or as fellow anime fans would refer to it as, "ecchi." If you're living with your parents, maybe you shouldn't show this to mom and dad. If you've got a girlfriend, fiance or wife who's easily ruffled, hide this. If you live all by your lonesome, then, well... enjoy yourself, I guess.
The plot starts you off in the shoes of Weiss, who has killed a god but lost all memory of the incident. After a chance encounter with a mysterious and buxom woman clad in borderline dominatrix gear, he is informed that he is in fact to serve as a vessel to atone for the sin of slaying a god, and if he fails his task, he must shack up with a woman and create a child that will serve as a new vessel. As the game progresses, you will indeed have to do just that, and through the span of multiple generations, you'll fight hoards of demons, score with some lovely ladies, and uncover the destiny of your bloodline.
Now, this generation spanning is something that has apparently been a focal point of the entries prior to this one, but as a first-time player, I have to admit that it's absolutely fascinating. Depending on how you interact with the woman you choose as your bride, and how you adjust your statistics through battling, your protagonist's predecessor will change. The sheer notion of a piece of entertainment having such an in-depth feature is definitely a sign that there are some things the interactive medium can do that movies and books will simply never be able to. In fact, I feel that this should have been a primary selling point instead of the cleavage and rear ends of the admittedly attractive ladies in the game.
As far as the gameplay goes, it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I play plenty of JRPGs, and a decent amount of the occasional SRPG, I found myself kind of lost when it came to navigating the plethora of statistics, menus, and other things. While the core combat system is actually quite good (an interesting mix of turn-based fighting mixed with the speed, action and control of a hack-and-slash game, coupled with a dual-grid system), the amount of effort it takes to plan out what gear to equip and whatnot is just irksome. It definitely feels like the developers were intending to make the game come across as "deeper" by just adding more hoops to jump through than necessary. The experience as a whole could have benefited from some serious reduction in menu clutter.
What makes up for this, in a way, is the very snazzy way battles are paced. There are three or four different types of maps you will find yourself navigated. One is the standard World Map that you run around on to get from one place to another. While you will still encounter random battles, you also have the option to trigger a battle at any time. When grinding for levels, this is an indispensable feature that other RPGs with random encounters should take note of. Having the ability to sit in one place and grind levels until you feel confident enough to progress is a very empowering feeling. The second type of map you'll be navigating are what you might call this game's "dungeons." Bridging areas of the World Map are smaller maps that are divided into several different zones that you progress through in a board game-like fashion. Each tile you progress to instigates a battle, and you can fight as few or as many times as you like. There are diverging paths that feature treasure and other goodies to claim, as well as tiles that will help you meet requirements on the main town's commission board, which will net you spells, armor, and ingredients required for alchemy and blacksmithing.
Speaking of towns, it houses the third kind of map you'll see. It's a menu that you pick locations on, and then go to them. Pretty straightforward, I know, but it segways into the second major focal point of this game: the dating sim aspect. Now, "Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love" set my standard for what to expect from a dating sim/RPG hybrid, and while this certainly doesn't exceed that experience in my book, due to the fairly limited range of conversation, it does almost match it. What it does beat that game in, however, are the production values. Instead of static images, the lovely ladies (and handsome men, if you're into that) are fully animated, living and breathing, all with unique animation that creates an interesting 2D/3D hybrid. This makes the experience as a whole so much more engaging than many other games that try and touch the SW franchise's signature dating sim/RPG blend. I enjoyed getting to know the cast through the interactions, and despite the aforementioned limited conversational choices, it's a defining feature that sets it apart from imitators.
However, while the overall story arc and character development is exceptional in "RoAW2", I have a serious bone to pick with the dialogue. If you're familiar with the worn cliche many gamers hold about JRPGs, about them having seemingly endless amounts of inane banter that is ultimately redundant, then you know where I'm going with this complaint. To be entirely honest, several lines of conversation in this game have bored me to death, and I like to think that I have a pretty large attention span. But it can't be helped. Characters repeat each other's dialogue, and characters making awkward pauses such as, "Uh-!", "Oh, uh-!" or the infamous "...", happens way too often, frequently occurring multiple times in a row with certain characters. I'm not saying the dialogue is awful, but it's tiresome and wears on the nerves after a while, making the experience seem longer than it is. An "autoplay" option helps alleviate the pain somewhat, but only a bit. The story is good, the characters are great, but the dialogue needed some serious work. Also, the font and styling of the text is formatted in a very odd manner. Things are surrounded by hyphens when they should be either italicized, capitalized, or put into quotations, making the emphasis in some dialogue only understandable when the voice actor actually speaks it. Also worth noting is that there is no English voice track. That doesn't bother me one bit, but some may be deterred by that.
Graphically, the game is quite pretty. What really stands out are the exceptional monster designs. Most of the enemies break free of the typical trappings of fantasy RPGs, and some of them are surprisingly frightful to gaze upon. The environments are nice and varied, and the character art is very crisp and appealing to look at. That same overall sentiment can be echoed for the soundtrack, which is infectious and passable enough to give praise to. Nothing too new, but nothing terrible. Overall, pleasant and helps to whisk you off into the fantasy world of the game, which is sometimes too much to ask some soundtracks for. It's always nice when it does happen, though.
With Square Enix focused on running their two main franchises into the ground, and Atlus branching out into new, more varied territory, it's nice to see Aksys putting out a game that screams niche. But furthermore, it's nice to see that some of these games are quite good, such as this one. While "Record of Agarest War 2" will not change your life, it will entertain and thrill you. Futhermore, it will draw you into its own little world, and with games of this variety, what more can you really ask for? This is a solid little game with plenty of nice imagery, a good story, and memorable characters; in this critic's opinion, it's a great title to spend your Summer downtime working on.
Plot: 8
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Overall: 8
P.S.: A couple of notes on the Limited Edition of the game. The artbox it comes in is pretty and well-designed, and is decked out with art that differentiates from that of the cover illustration, so if you're into collecting those like I am, then you'll be pleased to know it will look great on your shelf. Now, the main draw here is definitely the blow-up doll of catgirl Felenne, and trust me, it's every bit as adorable as it looks. What's refreshing is that the plastic used for it isn't the cheap stuff; this thing seems pretty durable, and it's a decent size as well at around 9 inches (10 if you count her cat ears.) As for the hand towel, it has exclusive character art on it, and it is wrapped in a heart-shaped sandwiched between two pictures of Fiona; it reads "A Wonderful Tower Experience." Yeah, nothing sexual about that at all, huh? Speaking of sexual things, there's the art book. Now, I was a little disappointed by the paper quality of the book, because it's really just the same kind of glossy paper used for higher-end instruction manuals. As for the illustrations, well, erm... they'll all pretty dang suggestive. I mean, we're talking borderline softcore pornography, or as fellow anime fans would refer to it as, "ecchi." If you're living with your parents, maybe you shouldn't show this to mom and dad. If you've got a girlfriend, fiance or wife who's easily ruffled, hide this. If you live all by your lonesome, then, well... enjoy yourself, I guess.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By hr
Edition:Limited Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Record of Agarest War 2 is the official sequel to the first Agarest game released in North America in 2010. Like that game and its prequel, Zero, the story follows an amnesiac protagonist whose only purpose in the game is to atone for a grave sin he forgot he committed in the past. While this plot element is nothing new to this series, or any jrpg for that matter, it is a key component to the generational gradient in which the story unfolds and also the character relations, which are well thought out, interesting, and many times comical.
A tremendous change to the series is the revamped battle system, which borrows heavily from Cross Edge. Instead of choosing six main characters to fight with and level up, you now choose four characters and everyone levels up equally whether or not they participate in battle. Skills and combo compatibility remain the same, and you can still link characters to perform combos and larger attacks, but the manner in which this is done is very different. It's all planned beforehand in a menu where you assign all your skills to the four face buttons and during that process you can see which combos you can execute. Now, I know I'm only summarizing combat but believe me when I say that it is much, much more detailed than is worth getting into right now. Agarest vets might grasp it easier than first timers simply due to familiarity with the menus and the high level of customization, but if you've ever played (and enjoyed) a Disgaea game, none of this should seem too difficult either. It really does depend on your familiarity with strategy rpgs, or at the very least, your willingness to overcome a relatively high learning curve.
Moving on, then, what truly makes the Agarest games unique is that you get to play through generations of the first hero's lineage, meaning in gen 2 you command his son, and in gen 3 his grandson. Making this aspect even more impressive is that in each generation the hero can choose one of three select women to bear his son, and depending on whom you choose skills, weapon proficiency, and physical appearance will vary. As you progress throughout the story you will engage in conversations and events with the heroines and your subsequent actions determine their affection levels towards you, which also affect the aforementioned stats. A high affection with one lady will yield stronger progeny, that is unless you created the initial hero (Weiss) with abilities that align to the heroine.
As you may assume from that last line, character creation factors into your heroes' play style. You choose from three basic classes (warrior, sorcerer, and battle mage) and then customize that base in various ways that you think would best suit your preferences. This is a similar process to Zero but it seems to be a bit more streamlined and intuitive here. Once you're done you'll get to see your Weiss and be able to go back and change whatever you want in case you're dissatisfied. Some people spend hours on this alone, and admittedly it is pretty fun.
Maps in this Agarest game come in three flavors. A free roam field is a nice departure and is made even more enjoyable by the ability to activate random encounters at the push of a button. The second type is the traditional Agarest layout where you navigate various points on a field by connecting the dots, as it were, but in Agarest 2 this layout has been reserved exclusively for "dungeons" since the world map is now free roam. The third type is town maps, which are really neat this time around. Unlike previous Agarest games which only had four or five points of interest (item shop, blacksmith, etc.), Agarest 2 has several, each with its own purpose in advancing the story and building on character interactions. Not only do you delve deeper into the hero and heroine relations but also the townsfolk, which is really nice, and as an added bonus it even overlaps with side quests.
As for side quests, the title system has evolved into a "commission" system, which is essentially a job list posted by Agarest's denizens. Upon completion of a commission you get useful rewards and occasionally you get to meet the people who posted the job and earn secondary rewards and witness additional character/world development.
Two complaints come to mind, the first of which isn't so much a complaint as a personal gripe, and that is Agarest 2 doesn't seem to contain the same comedic value as the previous games. Jainus, for example, has been toned down incredibly from past games' equivalents, Winfield and Eugene, and there seems to be an overall paucity of humorous events scattered between the "serious" ones. For a series known for its humor this is sorely missed, especially since the story, admittedly, isn't profoundly interesting or groundbreaking.
The second complaint is that the game, upon initial loading of a save file, suffers from horrendous lag. It's inexcusable because not only is this a sprite based game, but also combat is time based, approaching a QTE semblance, which means accuracy takes a frustrating backseat until the game catches up to itself. Lag even plagues the menu screens, which again is inexcusable in a game that derives much of its playability from menus. A simple install feature would fix this problem but mysteriously the developers omitted one, unlike previous Agarest games.
Overall, Agarest 2 is so different from its predecessors yet it retains a lot of features that still make it worthy of its moniker. I don't even necessarily miss the old battle system, as much as I loved it, because the new one is fresh and fun despite being in many ways overly complicated. "Overly" because the game doesn't do a grand job at explaining its mechanics but once you grasp it you'll be switching out characters like crazy and stressing over which skills to learn, and in this case "stressing" is used positively because it is absolutely addictive. And that pretty much sums the game and the series for that matter. Addictive because there are tons of stats, weapons, and characters to manage. The developers have opened up the interactive portions of the game as well, adding more things to do such as bathhouse mini games, while streamlining combat in what might appear to be a better balanced game. Keep in mind, though, this is still very much a hardcore strategy game despite the fresh coat of paint. New players might do better to try a previous entry in the series, but if you're determined to play this one first, try reading my brief guide in the regular edition review, as it will help tremendously to understand the meat of the game (combat). With that said, enjoy!
A tremendous change to the series is the revamped battle system, which borrows heavily from Cross Edge. Instead of choosing six main characters to fight with and level up, you now choose four characters and everyone levels up equally whether or not they participate in battle. Skills and combo compatibility remain the same, and you can still link characters to perform combos and larger attacks, but the manner in which this is done is very different. It's all planned beforehand in a menu where you assign all your skills to the four face buttons and during that process you can see which combos you can execute. Now, I know I'm only summarizing combat but believe me when I say that it is much, much more detailed than is worth getting into right now. Agarest vets might grasp it easier than first timers simply due to familiarity with the menus and the high level of customization, but if you've ever played (and enjoyed) a Disgaea game, none of this should seem too difficult either. It really does depend on your familiarity with strategy rpgs, or at the very least, your willingness to overcome a relatively high learning curve.
Moving on, then, what truly makes the Agarest games unique is that you get to play through generations of the first hero's lineage, meaning in gen 2 you command his son, and in gen 3 his grandson. Making this aspect even more impressive is that in each generation the hero can choose one of three select women to bear his son, and depending on whom you choose skills, weapon proficiency, and physical appearance will vary. As you progress throughout the story you will engage in conversations and events with the heroines and your subsequent actions determine their affection levels towards you, which also affect the aforementioned stats. A high affection with one lady will yield stronger progeny, that is unless you created the initial hero (Weiss) with abilities that align to the heroine.
As you may assume from that last line, character creation factors into your heroes' play style. You choose from three basic classes (warrior, sorcerer, and battle mage) and then customize that base in various ways that you think would best suit your preferences. This is a similar process to Zero but it seems to be a bit more streamlined and intuitive here. Once you're done you'll get to see your Weiss and be able to go back and change whatever you want in case you're dissatisfied. Some people spend hours on this alone, and admittedly it is pretty fun.
Maps in this Agarest game come in three flavors. A free roam field is a nice departure and is made even more enjoyable by the ability to activate random encounters at the push of a button. The second type is the traditional Agarest layout where you navigate various points on a field by connecting the dots, as it were, but in Agarest 2 this layout has been reserved exclusively for "dungeons" since the world map is now free roam. The third type is town maps, which are really neat this time around. Unlike previous Agarest games which only had four or five points of interest (item shop, blacksmith, etc.), Agarest 2 has several, each with its own purpose in advancing the story and building on character interactions. Not only do you delve deeper into the hero and heroine relations but also the townsfolk, which is really nice, and as an added bonus it even overlaps with side quests.
As for side quests, the title system has evolved into a "commission" system, which is essentially a job list posted by Agarest's denizens. Upon completion of a commission you get useful rewards and occasionally you get to meet the people who posted the job and earn secondary rewards and witness additional character/world development.
Two complaints come to mind, the first of which isn't so much a complaint as a personal gripe, and that is Agarest 2 doesn't seem to contain the same comedic value as the previous games. Jainus, for example, has been toned down incredibly from past games' equivalents, Winfield and Eugene, and there seems to be an overall paucity of humorous events scattered between the "serious" ones. For a series known for its humor this is sorely missed, especially since the story, admittedly, isn't profoundly interesting or groundbreaking.
The second complaint is that the game, upon initial loading of a save file, suffers from horrendous lag. It's inexcusable because not only is this a sprite based game, but also combat is time based, approaching a QTE semblance, which means accuracy takes a frustrating backseat until the game catches up to itself. Lag even plagues the menu screens, which again is inexcusable in a game that derives much of its playability from menus. A simple install feature would fix this problem but mysteriously the developers omitted one, unlike previous Agarest games.
Overall, Agarest 2 is so different from its predecessors yet it retains a lot of features that still make it worthy of its moniker. I don't even necessarily miss the old battle system, as much as I loved it, because the new one is fresh and fun despite being in many ways overly complicated. "Overly" because the game doesn't do a grand job at explaining its mechanics but once you grasp it you'll be switching out characters like crazy and stressing over which skills to learn, and in this case "stressing" is used positively because it is absolutely addictive. And that pretty much sums the game and the series for that matter. Addictive because there are tons of stats, weapons, and characters to manage. The developers have opened up the interactive portions of the game as well, adding more things to do such as bathhouse mini games, while streamlining combat in what might appear to be a better balanced game. Keep in mind, though, this is still very much a hardcore strategy game despite the fresh coat of paint. New players might do better to try a previous entry in the series, but if you're determined to play this one first, try reading my brief guide in the regular edition review, as it will help tremendously to understand the meat of the game (combat). With that said, enjoy!
Edition:Limited Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
2.0 out of 5 stars
First off, let me say that I've played all of the Agarest games. I am a huge JRPG fan, and lately, there haven't been a lot of good JRPGs. I bought the first Record of Agarest War twice (once for Xbox and again for PS3) because it was so good. I laughed at most of the scenes and I remember all of the characters. To this day, Thoma is still my favorite character from the first game. Then I played Record of Agarest War Zero and it did not disappoint. It exceeded my expectations and left me wanting more. I completed both games many times over working to achieve 100% and then sadly, I had nothing left to do. When I heard there were other Agarest games, but they hadn't been localized yet, I considered paying the extra money for an imported version and learning Japanese. So you can imagine how happy I was when they announced that Record of Agarest War 2 was on its way stateside! I bought the game as soon as possible, but I didn't get a chance to play it until about a week ago. In-case you missed that, I've been trying to play this game for a week.
First thing I noticed is that the game is slow. Maybe it's my PS3, but the loading times of the game are horrible. It reminds me of Mugen Souls. Every time you have to go back to G-Castle, you get the "Now Loading" screen. In previous Agarest games, I could hit Triangle to open the menu and have it open instantly. One of the things I love about the Agarest games is the character customization. But, I can't customize my characters very well if it takes too long to do the customization. I imagine that the game is slow because it needs to load the checkerboard animation, or make the menu sound effects?
In addition, there is no way to permanently skip all battle animations. You can hold down L2 which will skip the enemy animations, and the special skill animations, but you can't skip the character battle animations. In the previous games, there was a setting that allowed me to skip all battle animations. This made grinding much easier. I could get through a tedious "kill X enemies" or "obtain X items" very quickly. The only battle animations I really enjoy, are the ones from Chrono Cross.
The story also left me drowsy. If the focal point of a game is the story, then the story needs to be engaging; it needs to have characters that I care about. Like Lost Odyssey, or Tales of Vesperia. But I could care less about the characters in Record of Agarest War 2. I've often found myself dosing off while reading the dialog. While I was playing this game, my wife said to me "you haven't laughed yet...you usually laugh when playing these games." She was right, I just couldn't get into the story, and nothing about it was enjoyable. I remember reading bad reviews about Cross Edge, but I love Cross Edge. Cross Edge is a good game. Getting to 100% would take a lot of time and effort, but you don't need to get to 100% in Cross Edge to enjoy the game.
Also, the tutorials. I believe that I'm intelligent enough to figure this game out, and if I'm not, I can look up information. But being forced to sit through tutorials for every little thing is annoying. Maybe I just want to equip skills from the battle book I just picked up. I couldn't find a way to turn off the tutorials; maybe I missed the option.
Finally is the world movement. I like moving around in the over world. The random battle system which is akin to Final Fantasy 7 is also a nice touch. But when I move to an area within a continent, and I have to move from point to point, it completely breaks the flow of the game. Why not make everything point to point movement? Or why not make everything have an over world like a traditional RPG (like Mugen Souls)? I don't understand the rationale for this decision and it draws me out of the game.
I'm upset that I don't like this game. I'm upset that I'm writing a review for a game that I had high hopes for, but I simply can't play it anymore. I'm a little jealous of the people that did enjoy this game, but it just wasn't for me. The only possible reason I would continue to play this game is because I'm a perfectionist, and I'd want to get 100%, but I honestly don't think I'll be able to sit through another session.
So, why did I give it 2 out of 5 instead of 1 out of 5? Well, I've played some pretty bad games. This game does not deserve a 1/5. I did not hate it, I just couldn't enjoy it. In a perfect world where ratings could have more precision, I'd give this game 1.6 out of 5.
First thing I noticed is that the game is slow. Maybe it's my PS3, but the loading times of the game are horrible. It reminds me of Mugen Souls. Every time you have to go back to G-Castle, you get the "Now Loading" screen. In previous Agarest games, I could hit Triangle to open the menu and have it open instantly. One of the things I love about the Agarest games is the character customization. But, I can't customize my characters very well if it takes too long to do the customization. I imagine that the game is slow because it needs to load the checkerboard animation, or make the menu sound effects?
In addition, there is no way to permanently skip all battle animations. You can hold down L2 which will skip the enemy animations, and the special skill animations, but you can't skip the character battle animations. In the previous games, there was a setting that allowed me to skip all battle animations. This made grinding much easier. I could get through a tedious "kill X enemies" or "obtain X items" very quickly. The only battle animations I really enjoy, are the ones from Chrono Cross.
The story also left me drowsy. If the focal point of a game is the story, then the story needs to be engaging; it needs to have characters that I care about. Like Lost Odyssey, or Tales of Vesperia. But I could care less about the characters in Record of Agarest War 2. I've often found myself dosing off while reading the dialog. While I was playing this game, my wife said to me "you haven't laughed yet...you usually laugh when playing these games." She was right, I just couldn't get into the story, and nothing about it was enjoyable. I remember reading bad reviews about Cross Edge, but I love Cross Edge. Cross Edge is a good game. Getting to 100% would take a lot of time and effort, but you don't need to get to 100% in Cross Edge to enjoy the game.
Also, the tutorials. I believe that I'm intelligent enough to figure this game out, and if I'm not, I can look up information. But being forced to sit through tutorials for every little thing is annoying. Maybe I just want to equip skills from the battle book I just picked up. I couldn't find a way to turn off the tutorials; maybe I missed the option.
Finally is the world movement. I like moving around in the over world. The random battle system which is akin to Final Fantasy 7 is also a nice touch. But when I move to an area within a continent, and I have to move from point to point, it completely breaks the flow of the game. Why not make everything point to point movement? Or why not make everything have an over world like a traditional RPG (like Mugen Souls)? I don't understand the rationale for this decision and it draws me out of the game.
I'm upset that I don't like this game. I'm upset that I'm writing a review for a game that I had high hopes for, but I simply can't play it anymore. I'm a little jealous of the people that did enjoy this game, but it just wasn't for me. The only possible reason I would continue to play this game is because I'm a perfectionist, and I'd want to get 100%, but I honestly don't think I'll be able to sit through another session.
So, why did I give it 2 out of 5 instead of 1 out of 5? Well, I've played some pretty bad games. This game does not deserve a 1/5. I did not hate it, I just couldn't enjoy it. In a perfect world where ratings could have more precision, I'd give this game 1.6 out of 5.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great game!!
I love playing these dating turn base strategy games. I have played the first 2 games and all of them have been great games.
Published 1 month ago by Timothy B Greene
5.0 out of 5 stars
loved it
Loved the response from the hubby when he go this. :) Thanks for the great product hope to do business again
Published 2 months ago by Stephanie
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great game that is sure going to become a classic in a few years.
I still recall when I first played Suikoden I after buying it at Babage's (remember that store, Millennials? It later became EB Games)... Read more
Published 3 months ago by ChristianAndCool
5.0 out of 5 stars
Agarest war 2
i loved it! perfect in every way. Aksys never disappoints in any of their games. i cant wait to see what they come out with next!
Published 4 months ago by Joey Stickman
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Excellent
Awesome collectors items, lots of goodies, as good as roaw zero, plus really good rpg with extended gameplay and lots of things to find and enjoy
Published 4 months ago by juan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review
It shipped as new as it was stated on the site. Did not need to sign for it. Arrived on time.
Published 5 months ago by Tatsuya Hofmann
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great online service
I was happy with my purchase. i spend hours playing and enjoying this game. I would return to this person in the future if they have a title i am seeking.
Published 8 months ago by tin davis
1.0 out of 5 stars
Completely dissatisfied
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Published 9 months ago by Joseph S. Durepos
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Game!! Very Addictive!!
It's a fun game, very long, 2D-HD with graphics well done, and best of all, the characters, all characters are cute and with personality, a very good game, recommended for all... Read more
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