When I had heard that Level 5 (an ever more prominent video game development company, probably best known for it's colorful, innovative games with beautifully animated cutscenes) and Studio Ghibli (a world renowned animation studio) were teaming up for an RPG I knew it would be worth playing if only for the collaboration of epic proportions.
Needless to say I was very excited for this game and have waited almost 2 and a half years -since I had first learned of this games' existence- for this game to arrive. Delays and little coverage built the anticipation even further. By the time this game was almost out I had begun to get nervous that it wouldn't be everything I was hoping. Then, after having to leave the country for 4 months right on the eve of its release I began to wonder if I'd ever get to play this potential masterpiece.
Finally, after returning I popped the game in expectations high as I have ever had for a game. I am a huge fan or JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Games) but had bad experiences with quality JRPG titles on the PS3 and had no real JRPG game in my collection (which is a rarity as it is my favorite genre). This game was possibly the last hope I had for a solid game of this genre in my collection seeing this generation was coming to a close. After the first 4 hours I began to realize I was stepping back into an era of JRPG gaming that had seemed lost; what with modern JRPGs constantly innovating their gameplay methods in order to keep the genre relevant in a more modern and action-oriented age of gaming. I knew I was playing what would become one of the best, not only JRPGs, but best RPGs I had experienced in a long time.
The game starts off a little slow as you are introduced to a young boy named Oliver living in Motorville, a small and close-knit town, with his mother. Oliver is a kind, cheerful, respectful and above well-manered child, with a friend whom tends to steer him to the side of trouble-making. One day their shenanigans lead to a tragic accident that forces Oliver to team up with his fairy guardian (who's soul is trapped in the form of a stuffed doll until Oliver's pure-hearted tears revive him), Drippy, on a journey to the lands from which Drippy came in order to rescue his mother. Along the way you'll meet plenty of other characters and help them with their problems.
The game has its flaws such as it feeling more dumbed down for more seasoned players of JRPGs and video games in general and the hand-holding never really lets up, which isn't too surprising given the target audience is younger kids. But don't let that dissuade you as assuming that this game is just for kids would be an unfortunate assumption, causing you to miss out on one of the best titles to come out to the Playstation 3 in recent memory. While the game does seem to be meant for kids there are a few trying puzzles and challenges that might unbalance the games difficulty in terms of who it seems meant for. If one thing can be said the difficulty of puzzles (including in combat tactical decisons) can put a bit of sporadic challenges in the game that makes one wonder who the target audience really was meant to be (but again, I can assure this game can be for anyone who loves a good adventure). Also, the AI tend to make bad decisions and sometimes it may feel like you're facing the additional challenge of managing your team as well as the enemies onscreen.
Aside from these (potentially minor) flaws, the game is fantastic. While not everyone loves the combat, it is far from what some may call simply pressing the x button to continue. A lot of the games strategy comes from choosing the right familiar, learning the elemental advantages and disadvantages (as well as another advantage disadvantage system that doesn't take presidence until late game with a rock-paper-scissors style format), learning to time your moves, and also learning how to optimally position yourself. Other depths to battle can come down to choosing the right equipment, and how to best level up your familiars, but depending on how well prepared you are, these aren't make or break necessities for success. Overall, I think combat is where this game truly shines in comparison to more modern RPGs. The game mixes a good amount of action-oriented combat, in which your characters move about freely on the screen attacking and dodging incoming attacks, and conditional turn based strategies such as familiars movement and attack speeds determining how often it can deal damage and use abilities as well as statistics and numbers playing a big role in determining the effectiveness of your characters in combat. I've heard the combat mechanics referred to as a mix between the Pokemon series and the Tales games, which I find to be an apt analogy.
The very best aspect of this game is the level of immersion I felt when experiencing the world. There are plenty of quests to undertake and NPCs (non-player characters) to meet that adds a depth to the world and makes it feel alive and exciting. There is also a feature called the Wizard's Companion (Oliver becomes an ever more experienced wizard as the game progresses) in which the game asks you to refer to. This feature comes packed with useful information that forces the player to use it, which in turn adds a layer of immersion and wonder to the world. Among the features of the Wizard's Companion are chapters ranging from familiar types, short stories, legend and myths, and alchemy recipes which help you out in another fun aspect of the game: alchemy. The game has a wonderful item crafting system (nothing new to the Level 5 formula of innovative and deep item crafting) which helps you out along the way and adds a deeper layer of gameplay as you go around collecting recipes from people you help) which offers another reason to skim through your Wizard's Companion. Finally, there is a secret code that can be deciphered by referring to the game manual (included in the game) or by again referring to the Wizard's Companion that can be learned and is necessary to complete certain missions.
All this adds up to be a deeply immersive experience into an engaging story that, while may seem childish, actually has engaging themes and characters throughout. Overall if I had to give this game a number rating, I'd give it a 9.5/10. It falters at points in terms of AI and can at times hold your hand too much, going as far to tell you exactly what you need to do rather than letting your figure it out for yourself; but the game is not devoid of challenge and excitement (on the contrary).
I reccomend this to anyone who love's RPGs, beautiful graphics, grand adventures, and something differnt from the monotony of FPS games dominating the gaming industry this generation. It's a warm adventure with great characters, consistenly good voice acting (although all the voices are with british accents despite the setting of many of the characters being from the US), beautiful graphics and a large and beautiful world to explore. I found myself lost in the other world for days on end and never once began to feel the game get stale, even after 30+ hours. While the game lacks any real incentive to replay it, I feel it is an adventure I will come back to time and time again to just to relive some of my favorite moments in gaming.
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Reviews with images
Entertaining and mentally stimulating.
Purchased for game variety. My 3 and 5-year-old boys needed something else to play. My Goal was to find something with depth to help them develop skills of following directions, problem-solving, and reading. This was a good choice. The waypoint star for primary mission tasks is a great crutch for my boys who would likely struggle knowing where to go. The extra/side/bonus missions don't utilize the star and will provide more focus and attention when they are ready. There is an excellent story worth following and is engaging enough for my 5-year-old who will read about 80% of the words just fine and is learning fast. To win on normal, battle strategy learning is quite intense.To make the game better, I would say that the feeding of pets is time-consuming and tedious. The benefit of doing so is stronger pets which are needed if you play in normal mode. I am glad you can get away without it by using the easy mode.
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