[DS] Nostalgia?

[Deth Muncher]

So, I just came across this game, and am digging around to see if it's playable. It apparently, according to Wikipedia, received decent scores from game magazines. Plus it's steampunk. Win. :P

It's not like I need another game or anything, but if this is one of those that slipped under the radar and I could pick up for like 15 bucks, I'm doing it.

[Oregano]

I heard it's decent and probably the closest thing to a Skies of Arcadia 2 we're going to get. I haven't got it(don't think it's released in UK) but I've heard good things.

Apparently though it is exactly like Saturn/PS1 RPGs, warts and all.

[Deth Muncher]

I heard it's decent and probably the closest thing to a Skies of Arcadia 2 we're going to get. I haven't got it(don't think it's released in UK) but I've heard good things.

Apparently though it is exactly like Saturn/PS1 RPGs, warts and all.

Uuuuuh...what?

[Drascin]

From the half hour I could try...

Setting-wise, it's downright awesome. Victorian steampunk, zeppelins, gentleman adventurers, the whole shebang.

It lives up to its name gameplay-wise, though. Namely, it's a completely formula turn based RPG, except for the travel segments, where you instead get to use the ship instead of your characters for the random battles. If you're feeling like some classic RPGing, then it's likely to be a good purchase.

[Zevox]

I got it for Christmas last year. It's... well, bland. The setting, a sort of early 1900s steampunk version of the real world with monsters and magic, is the only really interesting thing about it. The characters are bland, the story is your typical "mysterious cult looking for MacGuffin mystical artifacts" tale, and the combat varies wildly between ridiculously easy and ridiculously hard.

Here's an example of how poorly designed it is: the first two special abilities your main character, Eddy, gets more or less let him dominate anything in regular (read: non-airship) combat. No, seriously. His first ability, Overdrive, amps up his attack power (and for a duration, not just for his next attack or anything), and the damage boost it gives is genuinely significant. His second, Combo Attack, lets him do multiple attacks at once, each of which benefits from the improved attack power of Overdrive. And you can improve these abilities with ability points over the course of the game, increasing how much attack power he gains from Overdrive and how many attacks Combo Attack does per use, and reducing Overdrive's mp cost to boot. So the further you go into the game, the more you can slaughter everything just by using those two abilities. I seriously took down the first couple bosses with a single use of each of those abilities, and most subsequent ones took only a couple uses of Combo Attack post-Overdrive to take down.

In airship battles, on the other hand, you will frequently get your ass handed to you simply because the designers apparently weren't able to judge where you were likely to go on the world map at various levels, so it's very easy to wander into an area with enemies beyond your ability to really fight. Plus your airship only gains hp or attack power by purchasing upgrades for it, and half of the special powers your characters get for use on it are basically worthless. On the other hand, there's another broken power for the airship - your second character, Pad, gets an ability called support shot, which lets him attack any time another character uses a basic attack. With that, particularly supported by a power-boosting buff for the ship Eddy gets (which isn't as significant a boost as Overdrive is for him on the ground, but is still quite helpful), even some otherwise-impossible fights can be beaten.

So, yeah, it's one of the few DS RPGs I have that I wouldn't recommend myself. I haven't even beaten it, actually - I got so bored with it that I just stopped playing and forgot about it, and can't seem to bring myself to go back to it.

Zevox

[Flame of Anor]

Uuuuuh...what?

It's an expression. No actual warts implied.

[chiasaur11]

It's an expression. No actual warts implied.

Unless you're discussing Super Mario 2.
I regret this. But the die is cast.
Then there's one Wart.