Decided to go back and really give this a go, since it has a full translation and I'm a sucker for Shining Force-style games where I get to see back-and-forth reactions for combat.
It's...an okay game. It suffers more than anything from just being cumbersome about everything it does. Some examples:
-- Text is SLOW and there's not really a way to speed it up unless you're just fast-forwarding on an emulator.
-- Some text prompts are bugged. When you first meet Eris, you're asked if you'll accompany her to the next area of the game and you're given the option to say NO, so you can resupply before you leave. If you say NO, you mention needing to resupply, she tells you that she understands, and as soon as the dialogue ends...it takes you back to the beginning of the dialogue exchange you just had again, forcing you to keep saying NO until you give up and say YES to move on without resupplying.
-- Enemy behavior is largely poor and skills are super-strong. AI will give you every reason to cut it down with very little resistance. I won the major boss fight at the end of Chapter 2 in two hits, and I didn't need the first hit. The boss waltzed right up to attack one of my slow-moving units after I moved him first, so I just brought the hero up as the last action for that turn, then when everyone re-cycled and became available again, I just moved the hero over next to him and used the special ability to do exactsies. Two potential healers nearby could do nothing about me one-shotting him and didn't even try to remedy the damage done by the hit that didn't matter.
-- The Law and Chaos emblem alignment system is a neat idea, since it rewards you with unique party members that will come hang with you if you're far enough in one direction or the other...except it's not always apparent as to where you stand with some characters. I got one early in Chapter 1 who just left after I cleared a mission by following the mission rules, but I was too CHAOTIC because I had been killing enemies up to that point and not escaping from battle -- something the game doesn't even tell you about. Then I got another character in Chapter 2 who left after the first fight he was involved in because I became too LAWFUL, even though I had no idea I was even close to that point because again, no warning.
-- To add to that, this means that upgrading character equipment is a risky venture because you don't always know who might just peace out on you. A few spell out their rules, but if you're not consulting a guide, good luck.
-- Equipment is really just weapons and healing items, but even this is convoluted, because it doesn't feel obvious as to whether there are equipment limitations or not, and it's never clearly stated that in order to equip something, you simply need to buy it and you automatically can select it in battle because NOTHING IS ACTUALLY EQUIPPED. If you're like me and spending extra turns camping out so you can use the storage system to check stuff, overworld enemies could come up on you simply because of how pointless the equipment system is along with storage at campsites.
-- The alternating turn system for characters and enemies seems interesting at first, but it becomes apparent quickly that since you can control your order, you're never really in any danger if you think about tactics because even when there's less enemies and the smaller number start getting multiple actions, there's gap periods where they still have to wait on enough of your units to go, so you can always stack formations in your favor to avoid leaving a healer or archer open to major damage.
I didn't make major headway into the game because it just felt like a slog to deal with the first several chapters, but I'll also say that IF the translation is remotely accurate, the dialogue is kind of a mess and feels like something out of some really bad anime. Some of the exchanges are just beyond goofy and apparently, every dude is a horndog, I guess. I won't fault the game for that since I don't know what the original dialogue was like, but the translation definitely didn't do me any favors for enjoying it.
I doubt I'll ever go back to this again, but it was nice to spend a little time with a different attempt at a Shining Force-type game, even if it never seemed to live up to that caliber of quality.
It's...an okay game. It suffers more than anything from just being cumbersome about everything it does. Some examples:
-- Text is SLOW and there's not really a way to speed it up unless you're just fast-forwarding on an emulator.
-- Some text prompts are bugged. When you first meet Eris, you're asked if you'll accompany her to the next area of the game and you're given the option to say NO, so you can resupply before you leave. If you say NO, you mention needing to resupply, she tells you that she understands, and as soon as the dialogue ends...it takes you back to the beginning of the dialogue exchange you just had again, forcing you to keep saying NO until you give up and say YES to move on without resupplying.
-- Enemy behavior is largely poor and skills are super-strong. AI will give you every reason to cut it down with very little resistance. I won the major boss fight at the end of Chapter 2 in two hits, and I didn't need the first hit. The boss waltzed right up to attack one of my slow-moving units after I moved him first, so I just brought the hero up as the last action for that turn, then when everyone re-cycled and became available again, I just moved the hero over next to him and used the special ability to do exactsies. Two potential healers nearby could do nothing about me one-shotting him and didn't even try to remedy the damage done by the hit that didn't matter.
-- The Law and Chaos emblem alignment system is a neat idea, since it rewards you with unique party members that will come hang with you if you're far enough in one direction or the other...except it's not always apparent as to where you stand with some characters. I got one early in Chapter 1 who just left after I cleared a mission by following the mission rules, but I was too CHAOTIC because I had been killing enemies up to that point and not escaping from battle -- something the game doesn't even tell you about. Then I got another character in Chapter 2 who left after the first fight he was involved in because I became too LAWFUL, even though I had no idea I was even close to that point because again, no warning.
-- To add to that, this means that upgrading character equipment is a risky venture because you don't always know who might just peace out on you. A few spell out their rules, but if you're not consulting a guide, good luck.
-- Equipment is really just weapons and healing items, but even this is convoluted, because it doesn't feel obvious as to whether there are equipment limitations or not, and it's never clearly stated that in order to equip something, you simply need to buy it and you automatically can select it in battle because NOTHING IS ACTUALLY EQUIPPED. If you're like me and spending extra turns camping out so you can use the storage system to check stuff, overworld enemies could come up on you simply because of how pointless the equipment system is along with storage at campsites.
-- The alternating turn system for characters and enemies seems interesting at first, but it becomes apparent quickly that since you can control your order, you're never really in any danger if you think about tactics because even when there's less enemies and the smaller number start getting multiple actions, there's gap periods where they still have to wait on enough of your units to go, so you can always stack formations in your favor to avoid leaving a healer or archer open to major damage.
I didn't make major headway into the game because it just felt like a slog to deal with the first several chapters, but I'll also say that IF the translation is remotely accurate, the dialogue is kind of a mess and feels like something out of some really bad anime. Some of the exchanges are just beyond goofy and apparently, every dude is a horndog, I guess. I won't fault the game for that since I don't know what the original dialogue was like, but the translation definitely didn't do me any favors for enjoying it.
I doubt I'll ever go back to this again, but it was nice to spend a little time with a different attempt at a Shining Force-type game, even if it never seemed to live up to that caliber of quality.