I was hoping for an in-depth RTS with the customization levels of FFXII's gambit system and job board. But after about 4-5 battles, I'm kinda disappointed.
It's pretty simple, almost too simple. You use the stylus to select units and point them towards the enemy, and then they automatically duke it out, like in FFXII. The problem is though, each character can only be programmed to do one ability at a time. So if I set Penelo's gambit to Cure, that's all she'll do. Each character has one basic ability to begin with. There's no MP, just time meters that refresh after using a special ability.
There are some other nuisances too, so far. The story plays out in this order every time: cutscene, battle, cutscene, battle. There's not much exploration save for what can be found in small battle maps and the world map (reminiscent of Chrono Cross). Selecting units is a little confusing, and you've got a large group in a small area, it's difficult to single out people because they walk on top of each other. The battles go by super quick, less than 5 minutes if you just go for the objectives. And after every one, it asks you to save.
It has good qualities, of course. Battles play out like rock-paper-scissors - melee-flying-ranged, respectively. The cutscenes are neat, they make good use of the dual screen aspect. The music so far has been straight ports from FFXII, which I don't mind. They're used well and seem to fit what's going on. Summoning monsters and item creation seems nice too. Customizing your army is probably what'll be the strong point later on, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
So far, I'm basically playing it because it's FFXII for the DS.
It's pretty simple, almost too simple. You use the stylus to select units and point them towards the enemy, and then they automatically duke it out, like in FFXII. The problem is though, each character can only be programmed to do one ability at a time. So if I set Penelo's gambit to Cure, that's all she'll do. Each character has one basic ability to begin with. There's no MP, just time meters that refresh after using a special ability.
There are some other nuisances too, so far. The story plays out in this order every time: cutscene, battle, cutscene, battle. There's not much exploration save for what can be found in small battle maps and the world map (reminiscent of Chrono Cross). Selecting units is a little confusing, and you've got a large group in a small area, it's difficult to single out people because they walk on top of each other. The battles go by super quick, less than 5 minutes if you just go for the objectives. And after every one, it asks you to save.
It has good qualities, of course. Battles play out like rock-paper-scissors - melee-flying-ranged, respectively. The cutscenes are neat, they make good use of the dual screen aspect. The music so far has been straight ports from FFXII, which I don't mind. They're used well and seem to fit what's going on. Summoning monsters and item creation seems nice too. Customizing your army is probably what'll be the strong point later on, but I haven't gotten that far yet.
So far, I'm basically playing it because it's FFXII for the DS.
Comment