Rondo of Swords

by Atlus

Product Features

• Multiple storylines and endings
• Customizable skills and strategic devices
• Ability to send troops on errands and quests
• Momentum counter to gain stat bonuses and control your enemy targets
• Challenging strategy RPG gameplay

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00139U8QI
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 3.7 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: April 15, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,355 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #99 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > Role-Playing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Kingdom of Bretwalde is situated in the center of the continent of Bravord and surrounded on all sides by strong nations. It was established by a holy knight whose blade drove back the Darkness that threatened to engulf the land. On this day in Bretwalde, the people are mourning their recently fallen king with a solemn funeral. But during the ceremony, the neighboring Grand Meir empire attacked without warning. One by one,the knights of Bretwalde fell to Grand Meir's forces. The few surviving knights, led by Serdic, escaped south to the Shalem Emirate Federation...

The tribes of Shalem were divided over what to do regarding Grand Meir's invasion of Bretwalde, when an unexpected visitor arrived: Princess Marie of Bretwalde, believed to be sequestered in a Veronan cloister. Her innocent visit ignited the situation: one of Shalem's tribes attempted to capture the Princess in order to gain favor with Grand Meir, prompting Serdic to mobilize his forces. The Bretwalde Army was once again on the march. But Serdic carries a secret, a pair of vows made during his escape from Bretwalde. The time will come when he will have to choose. During his journey to reclaim the Kingdom of Bretwalde, Serdic encounters all manner of people, experiencing faith, friendship, hostility, hatred, sadness, and farewells. His actions will shape the fate of the entire continent!

Gameplay

Rondo of Swords is a strategy RPG that's divided into several parts:

• Story - where the characters converse.
• Battle - which uses a unique combat system.
• Preparation - which allows you to develop your characters, form your party, and so on.

As the game progresses, the player will gather new allies and move the story forward. Depending on your actions and the characters you use in battle, the story can change, resulting in four possible endings. In this game, the player army and enemy army take turns fighting. One turn consists of the Player Phase, followed by the Enemy Phase. Some chapters will also have a Visitor Phase where guest characters will act in between the Player and Enemy phases.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have, April 17, 2008

By 

The Girl Next Door "Look not unto others..." (Florida) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rondo of Swords (Video Game)

Before you play the game, I suggest everyone does a run through the tutorial available from the start menu. There are ten lessons in all, each that will teach you how to play the game, otherwise you might find yourself frustrated when the enemy owns you in two seconds flat.


I'm not far into the game yet, but the battle system is interesting. Instead of moving to the side, front, or behind the enemy you have to drag your character through the enemy otherwise no damage will be done. Unfortunately there are times where you cannot attack an enemy with this strategy because of the ZOC.

With the battle system aside, I'm really happy with this game. The story progresses pretty fast, and so far the only draw back is the lack of free roaming. I'm hoping that once I get a little further into the game I can go to different locations to level up, without furthering the story line.

The art is beautiful, and the background music is pleasing to the ears. I highly recommend this to any fan of RPGs and strategy games.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost, but not quite., October 20, 2008

By 

M. Mayne "Nerd, Gamer, & Obsessionist" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rondo of Swords (Video Game)

I am a long time follower of Atlus releases, one might even call me a fanatic about it ;) But this game falls short of the usual greatness that I expect from Atlus, though it just barely misses the mark.

By barely missing the mark I mean, this game, with a few very minor tweaks, would indeed be what I expected from an "epic" Atlus title.

Gameplay in Rondo of Swords moves from map to map without ever letting you have a break. Battle, after battle, after battle. Yes, this adds to the stategy - IE, making sure that you keep your people alive, so that they can fight in the next battle, etc. However, the other RPG elements such as shopping, outfitting your people, sidequests, etc. while present require you to sacrifice those people from the next battle, and there's never a time to do anything but battle. No equipping your people. No random battles or training area in which to lvl up under levelled and/or new people. Etc. etc. Granted, this is part of what makes the game difficult (IE impossible without a walkthrough or several restarts), but it also makes it not-so-fun.

Also, if you are just playing along, going with the flow, its very easy to miss the ability to recruit key characters and very easy to get to the 10th, or 11th stage, and be UNABLE to continue since you don't have enough people to put on the battlefield and complete the other objectives. If you play with a walkthrough, it becomes somewhat bearable.

The combat system? New, unique, refreshing, different, cool.
Skill customization on characters? Very good.

But this game needs to give you a break. An essential element of any RPG is the ability to stop, go back, do something other than the main storyline arc to beef up your people if you're having trouble. If you have trouble in this game? All you can do is start the entire game over and try something different. Which after the 3rd or so time, gets frustrating.

I know what you're thinking ~ but seriously, I'm a veteran gamer, have been playing RPGS and now tactical RPGs for over 20 years, this isn't "the game's too hard for me" - I'm an Atlus fan, I expect it to be difficult, in fact the challenge level in most Atlus games is what keeps me coming back for more. But more than challenging, this game is Punishing, and its very easy to get yourself into a position where continuing is impossible.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rondo of Difficulty, April 24, 2008

By 

Hongster (Fort Lee, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Rondo of Swords (Video Game)

As the title of my review suggests, this game is not easy. Those with experience playing strategy and tactics games will find this game playable. Those who have no experience should avoid this game, unless you are willing to learn and experience the difficultly that this game has to offer. Well unto the review!

The game is pretty much a tactics game where you move units and you gain exp points by either hitting your enemy or defeating them. Unlike most tactics games you do not move in front of them and choose an option to hit rather you go through them and that means you can hit multiple times all in one turn. Of course there are skills to prevent this as those with a special skill will prevent anyone from passing through them and only allowing one hit instead of multiple hits. Those who possess range attacks (bows, magic) you can attack from a distance, though you must be in range to attack and cannot attack after you move your unit (this does not apply to bow users as you can attack after you move, just remember to choose the bow option to attack). And like many tactics games the terrain affects your movement. Also, if your main character is defeated the game is over.

The game offers new additions to a traditional tactics game and those are all welcome but a few of those additions are not. Passing through enemies and hitting multiple times is a welcome to the series as most tactics games are pretty slow due to the one hit rule. In addition, there is a skill that you can build up called "OB" which is a special skill you can use that is very powerful depending on which character is using it. In addition once your character levels up you obtain skill points that you use to build up skills that will benefit your character. Another good feature is the ability to restart the stage (this cannot be done on the opponent's turn). This is useful since you get to keep all the exp points and levels you gained during the time you fought prior to choosing to restart the stage (this is probably your only option to gain levels for low level characters). Not everything found in the game is a welcome and here are the many gripes of the game.

Smart AI is a welcome for any game as it adds challenge to the game but not when the AI is too good or should I say cheesy. There are times when you will consider restarting a stage because you will need to outsmart your opponent otherwise be prepared for the enemy onslaught. When you restart a stage certain enemy units will gain new skills that they did not have when you first started the stage thereby giving the advantage to the AI. Also, unlike other tactics games where you can purchase items by going to a general store, in this game you send a group to buy items and they can either succeed, end up using all your money or fail. This is by the worst thing to ever happen in a tactics game where all your hard earned money can be blown by a single item purchase.

Even with all the short comings, I found the game to be enjoyable and playable (unlike Age of Empires where I am stuck forever on Jerusalem). As I stated before, I only recommend this game for those with experience playing strategy games (such as Age of Empires, Shining Force, Fire Emblem, Starcraft, Civilization, Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy Tactics just to name a few). Those with no experience will have a very difficult time playing through this game though if you can overcome the difficultly of this game then by all means buy this game. Recommended for fans of strategy/tactics games.