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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strategy/Sim/RPG all in one, March 18, 2010
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Spectral Force Genesis (Video Game)
For gamers that played Koei titles such as Gemfire, Nobunaga's Ambition, or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, you will already know the general idea behind Spectral Force: Genesis. Just realize that this is a simplified version of those types of games with a modern twist.
Spectral Force: Genesis is the first game I've ever played in the Spectral Force series, and so far I am very impressed. Like the games I mentioned earlier SF:G features a world divided by numerous factions owning their own territory, and each kingdom is fighting for complete dominance. You choose a territory to start with (you can only choose from some of the kingdoms, but the instructions say that your options expand after you beat the game) and a brief back story is provided for your specific Lord--everybody has their own story.
You have a few generals at your disposal with their own specific stats, special moves, and soldiers. These generals are used for pretty much every action in the game. Every turn represents one month, and in each month you can only choose certain orders (fortunately the game lets you see the command flow for an entire year). I don't really know how to feel about this because it really limits you in what actions you can take each turn. For example, if the particular month is a Foreign Affairs month you can only make alliances or try to presuade foreign generals to join your army. In a Battle month you can only start a battle with a neighboring country or try to rob money from your opponents. Other commands allow you do such things as trade for money, hire troops for your generals, and fortify your walls. I'm used to games that allow me to use all commands when it's my turn. Being limited to specific types of commands per month is awkward to say the least. However, it starts to make more sense when you begin conquering other territories. Each location you control does not take its own turn each month. Rather, you take one turn for all territories you own (this saves a lot of time). Therefore, unlike in similar titles, you can attack from any territory you own in a Battle turn and if you are attacked you can use any general no matter what specific territory is assaulted. This simplifies things greatly so you don't have to move generals and troops between territories all the time. And it makes it more logical that you can only perform certain tasks each month since your actions can/do affect every territory you own and makes it imperative that you strategize what actions to perform at what time (remember that you can see the flow of each month's actions for the current year).
Combat in SF:G is very unique, and relies solely on the Stylus control-wise. You bring up to 3 generals into battle (with up to 400 soldiers each). Each general has a certain kind of soldier (knights, skeletons, magicians, etc.) at his/her disposal. Different soldiers are good on different kinds of terrain (each battlefield consists of one type of terrain only), but I don't think that's a super big deal. What's more important is whether or not the specific unit is an Attack unit, Defense unit, or Magic unit. Attack units are placed on the front row and do extra damage to Magic units. Defense units are in the middle row and do extra damage to Attack units. Magic units are in the back row and are effective against Defense units. So, depending on what generals you have available you could have 3 Attack generals, 1 Attack/1 Defense/1 Magic General, or any other combination. Once battle starts you use the stylus to trace what path you want your generals to follow. Units can't go through each other so you must make sure that your paths don't block each other. What's really cool is that how fast you draw your line affects how fast your units move. Once one of your generals reaches an enemy troop they automatically begin fighting. You SP gauge fills as you take damage which allows you to use special skills. Just tap on a skill and it will tell you its effect and how to execute it. This means you have to keep your units heading in the right direction and make sure you manage their skill use effectively at the same time. Don't lolly gag because your opponent will be using their skills regularly to their advantage. Unfortunately, if a lot of units are clogged in one area it takes a good deal of precision to select the particular unit who's skills you want to use. The good news is it isn't so difficult that it changes the overall course of the battle. In general I really enjoy the combat system for its unique nature and the fact that it keeps you thinking the entire time.
After the battle is over you enter seige mode. If you are the attacker you can choose 1) to ask the defending lord to surrender, or 2) to attack the castle walls. You have 3 rounds in which you can choose these options. When you attack you damage the wall while some of your remaining troops are killed (presumably by any defending soldiers not brought into battle by your enemy) for a set period of time. If their wall is too powerful to defeat within the 3 rounds you must end the seige and fight another day. This gives the defender a chance to rebuild their armies and fortifications before your next assault. If you are the defender in the seige you have the option to fight or submit. If you submit, all of your territories become vassal states to the attacker, you can no longer perform foreign affairs (other than declare independence from the conquerers which automatically leads to a battle against them), and all battles involving your territories will be controlled by your new masters. Fortunately, declaring independence (and winning the ensuing battle) will allow you to continue your pursuit of complete domination.
Graphics are clean and colorful, there is no voice acting, and the music is pretty good but nothing to get excited over. For such a low profile release I was surprised at how polished the game actually is, though. The replay value is high since you can replay as different kingdoms for greater challenges and different stories (not sure how developed the individual stories are though).
Pros:
--Good graphics
--Good music
--Unique combat and fun gameplay
--Plenty of replay value
Cons:
--Stats are not fully explained, and stat values are not certain due to the fact that your advisor (a general of your choosing) only estimates the stats of your generals. There may be a way to be certain, but I don't know it yet
--Not being able to use all commands each month can be restrictive
--Sometimes combat can get a little crowded for precision with the stylus
Gameplay--8/10
Graphics--8/10
Music--9/10
Controls--8/10
Replay Value--9/10
Overall--8/10
EDIT: I've been playing this game more and I have come to the conclusion that this game just rocks! The music is better than I gave it credit for so I bumped it up from a 7/10 to 9/10. The game is simply addicting. It's one of those games I keep thinking about while I'm at work or doing just about anything else. Give this game a try and I suspect that you won't be disappointed.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Stunningly poorly designed... and yet..., August 11, 2010
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Spectral Force Genesis (Video Game)
Despite being poorly designed, this game is still fun for what it is.
There are huge problems all throughout it. The interface is slow, clunky, monotonous, and a horrible chore with which to interact. The AI is brain-dead, making the game way, way too easy. There aren't enough event sequences for each nation, and the ones that are there are too brief. To get the "True Ending" for each nation, it seems as if to get them (I'm not sure if this applies to every nation) you need to avoid making any alliances or vassal nations at all for the entire game. You see, sometimes during combat, you will get a cut-scene of two generals talking to each other. If you're allied with the nation that has a general for which you need the cut-scene, it's impossible to trigger it. If you don't trigger every scene, you don't get the nation's true ending. What this means is that games are going to go on for a long, long time, as you wipe out the entire map by yourself without any allies, and as far as I know, there is no way to break a treaty yourself unless you first persuade them into becoming a vassal nation and hope they rebel before the game's over (if there is some way to break treaties, I'd love for someone to tell me). A lot of the game is just too simple or doesn't work, or is so time-consuming as to be infuriating.
Commenting on the easiness of the game, the main problem is that it is almost impossible to run out of money. As soon as you buy one commodity for less than half what it's normally worth, then sell it later for more than twice it's worth, you will have achieved so much money that you can max out the stats of all of your cities with plenty left over. Money becomes meaningless very early on. That brings me to actually using your money, which is primarily used to boost the economy of cities or to increase the defenses of each city: You can only do these actions by one general at a time. This is a killer. You may have twenty generals, all of which have something they need to do, and to do them, you need to select each one individually and give them a task to perform. It's impossible to give joint tasks, such as having five generals work on defense. To get five generals to work on a city's defense, you have to go down the list of generals and choose what you want them to do and where to do it: Select the task, select the general, select the city, click through the confirmations, and repeat. Usually, you'll be using all your generals every turn (there's no reason to leave them idle), so as you can imagine this is monotonous.
The combat mechanics are insultingly simple and take no time to master, especially once you figure out that some generals are outstandingly better than others and can almost win entirely by themselves against multiple opponents; for instance, one general who is easy to attain, Gabella, has a skill that revives *all* of her troops in her unit, and it's a level one skill, meaning you can use it almost any time. If you do nothing but spam this skill, it is completely impossible for Gabella's unit to be destroyed. Or Sanae, who has a level two skill called "Spirit Lord" which is probably the most devastatingly powerful attack spell in the game, wiping out half of all your enemy's troops in one cast. Most of the skills that generals have are not even worth casting, but there are some that can win battles and are still low-level. Greater Defense and Attaaack! are potentially level one or two skills, depending on the general who has them, and they give your entire army game-winning buffs.
Some game mechanics aren't explained at all, and I've never come across anything on the internet that accurately explains everything. As far as I know, no one really knows what some stats are for. The obviously important one is Intelligence, which determines how well a general can handle an administrative position. Other than that, though, the others are a mystery to me.
Okay, so I've complained a ton about this game, and I'm still giving it four stars. Why? Because it's addictive.
Yes, I admit it. The game's addictive for a very simple reason: Conquering other nations and reaping the spoils of war from defeated nations is rewarding. Capturing generals and forcing them to serve you, or choosing to execute them, is rewarding. Conquering the world is rewarding. Using espionage, such as causing enemy generals to defect to you so as to seriously cripple the defenses of an otherwise powerful nation, then invading what was once a seemingly unbeatable nation, is satisfying. The event sequences, although brief, are pretty cool, and the art, of which there is a lot, is pretty.
That's really all there is to it. I play the game consistently because there's a strong sense of reward whenever you complete a particularly time-consuming task. In the all-important "sense of progress" factor, this game definitely has it. I really dig games that remind me of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, and this is one of them.
So, as for you, if you've played Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or if you just think the idea of this game is cool, it still might be worth a purchase if you think you can stand the numerous major problems it has. You might find it as strangely addictive as I do. You might feel the same sense of satisfaction every time you conquer a particularly powerful nation, then execute all of its followers that gave you so much trouble (kind of sick, I know, but hey). Just don't say I didn't warn you.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
this game really sucks, July 21, 2010
Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Spectral Force Genesis (Video Game)
this one is the worst i've ever played in my entire life.
first of all, it is *too easy* to win over other countries - meaning there is no challenge. while you trade, you can pretty much build up 'infinite amount of' money because the trade system decides the 'price' (or the ratio between two merchandise) randomly. second of all, from the beginning to the end, there is no special events occurring or anything like that, so you end up repeating the very same task over and over - i wouldn't complain if there was anything slightly different that I did. I literally did the same thing every single turn.
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