So I fancied playing this again after playing it on the DS at launch years ago. I saw it was £2.50 in a PSN sale so I went for it and boy has this aged badly.
Let's get the big part out the way, this is a port of the PS2 version. It's a low effort port at absolute best. The volume quality is so bad I played 90% of the game with my headphones on listening to music because it was sharp, crackly and fiddling with the settings did absolutely nothing.
The rest of the game is just way worse than I remember it. The battles are done using a match 3 type puzzle mode and I still love the idea but the computer is ridiculous constantly making perfect moves chaining things together to take multiple turns in a row. It's really frustrating yet despite that I would win almost every time. The balancing feels terrible.
Added to that is this is a pseudo RPG, you get level ups, equipment and skills. The level ups are so pointless for how little they effect your stats you may as well not bother, I was level 50 by the end of the game and did very little more damage than at level 1. Equipment is pretty much the same throughout the game, I just barely felt like I was making any real impact to my character.
The game is pretty long, like 30 hours? The problem is it's pretty much the same from start to end and some battles become long and tedious. The narrative just isn't that interesting and by the final boss I was just happy for it to be over.
Some games hold up really well through time, others, like this one should stay in the past through rose tinted glasses.
+ The idea is still great.
- Terrible port.
- Unbalanced fights.
- Boring equipment and progression system.
- Too long for it's mechanics.
Let's get the big part out the way, this is a port of the PS2 version. It's a low effort port at absolute best. The volume quality is so bad I played 90% of the game with my headphones on listening to music because it was sharp, crackly and fiddling with the settings did absolutely nothing.
The rest of the game is just way worse than I remember it. The battles are done using a match 3 type puzzle mode and I still love the idea but the computer is ridiculous constantly making perfect moves chaining things together to take multiple turns in a row. It's really frustrating yet despite that I would win almost every time. The balancing feels terrible.
Added to that is this is a pseudo RPG, you get level ups, equipment and skills. The level ups are so pointless for how little they effect your stats you may as well not bother, I was level 50 by the end of the game and did very little more damage than at level 1. Equipment is pretty much the same throughout the game, I just barely felt like I was making any real impact to my character.
The game is pretty long, like 30 hours? The problem is it's pretty much the same from start to end and some battles become long and tedious. The narrative just isn't that interesting and by the final boss I was just happy for it to be over.
Some games hold up really well through time, others, like this one should stay in the past through rose tinted glasses.
+ The idea is still great.
- Terrible port.
- Unbalanced fights.
- Boring equipment and progression system.
- Too long for it's mechanics.