This game is pure bliss. If Dissonance was a step in the right direction after Circle of the Moon, then Aria is a space shuttle in full ignition. Exploration feels so rewarding and natural, not once did I think to myself "Oh shit, where do I go now?", things just clicked one after another. Who knew that having one really well designed castle to explore is better than two castles that are basically the same!
The Soul system is so damn fun. Sure, it's RNG drops from monsters just like Circle of the Moon, but guess what? EVERY monster in the game can drop a soul, not just a few of 'em, which means you're free to explore and you'll most certainly grab a wide range of souls even if you're not actively hunting them down. Not to mention, you don't need to experiment with mixing souls just to see what they do; you get a Soul, and you immediately know what it does by the description. You still have to enter the menu to swap souls, but even that got an upgrade; cycling through menus is so much faster than CotM/HoD.
And best of all? You can equip multiple Souls. So you don't need to choose between an offensive/utility/buff skill; you can have all three at once!
I like the new cast, the spritework is vastly improved across the board(just look at those animation frames on Soma, mm-mmm), the weapons are pretty varied considering the limitations of the system, this game just does SO much right. It's great.
The only downside to me is the console it was released on. I love Aria's soundtrack but the GBA's sound chip is so muffled and noisy it's hard to enjoy it, and while the graphics got a huge facelift, it's obviously not going to look as pristine as SotN. If Aria was released as a sequel to SotN on the PS1? It wouldn't even be a fair fight.
Advance Collection is worth it for this game alone. Please give it a shot.
The Soul system is so damn fun. Sure, it's RNG drops from monsters just like Circle of the Moon, but guess what? EVERY monster in the game can drop a soul, not just a few of 'em, which means you're free to explore and you'll most certainly grab a wide range of souls even if you're not actively hunting them down. Not to mention, you don't need to experiment with mixing souls just to see what they do; you get a Soul, and you immediately know what it does by the description. You still have to enter the menu to swap souls, but even that got an upgrade; cycling through menus is so much faster than CotM/HoD.
And best of all? You can equip multiple Souls. So you don't need to choose between an offensive/utility/buff skill; you can have all three at once!
I like the new cast, the spritework is vastly improved across the board(just look at those animation frames on Soma, mm-mmm), the weapons are pretty varied considering the limitations of the system, this game just does SO much right. It's great.
The only downside to me is the console it was released on. I love Aria's soundtrack but the GBA's sound chip is so muffled and noisy it's hard to enjoy it, and while the graphics got a huge facelift, it's obviously not going to look as pristine as SotN. If Aria was released as a sequel to SotN on the PS1? It wouldn't even be a fair fight.
Advance Collection is worth it for this game alone. Please give it a shot.