Pros: Interesting combat system; good item creation system; all characters play differently;
Cons: Weak story; bad voice acting; too long cutscenes; level design is bland; factory system is too complicated
The PS2 is hands down the best system for RPGs in my book. I originally bought the system in part to play Final Fantasy X, and since then haven't been disappointed with the overwhelming selection of great RPGs on the system. Part of the reason Mission: Backlog was begun in the first place (besides saving money) was to finally start to tackle a pile of RPGs that I had bought for the PS2 and just never really had time for. Granted, there are a few that I haven't played yet that I know I'm going to be on the fence about (namely .hack//Infection), but for the most part I was wise in the ones that I bought. I ended up owning Rogue Galaxy because it dropped to twenty bucks at Circuit City and had pretty good reviews (an overall metacritic of 83, nothing to snuff at for a game no one's heard of). The problem was that I bought it at the same time as about 7 other RPGs, of which I played two before forgetting about the rest. Rogue Galaxy was fairly low on my priority list of those 7, so it was shelved and more or less forgotten about.
Unlike most other games I shelved, however, this one always bugged me, and I could never figure out why. Maybe it was because I hadn't ever given a Factor 5 RPG a chance, despite their positive reviews. Maybe it was because it was one of the few RPGs that I had that didn't belong to any series, and seemed to promise something unique. After finishing it, I'm still not sure what it was that got to me. But I hope to God it was the first, otherwise I look like an idiot. Rogue Galaxy is a fun and satisfying RPG for the PS2, but it's story is perhaps its weakest point and gives little drive to finish the 35 hour RPG. Instead, you're completion of the game is likely going to be dependent on how interesting you find the combat which, while not entirely unique, was enough to keep my interest throughout the length of the game.
Rogue Galaxy tells the story of Jaster Rogue, an orphan on a desert planet who dreams of exploring space one day. Lucky for him, he's mistaken for a famous bounty hunter and recruited aboard a pirate ship. From here, the story slowly escalates, eventually leading to your mission of discovering a lost planet that is rumored to be filled with treasures. Of course, it turns out that there is a sinister threat at work that threatens the entire galaxy, and you are the only one capable of stopping it. While the story itself doesn't necessarily seem cliched, it's how the game goes about presenting it that will make you roll your eyes more than once. From a secret princess among your crew to a friend betraying you to your own secret heritage, everything in the story feels done before, even when it hasn't been. With a little more effort, the story could have been much more engaging, but as it stands, it just feels lazy most of the time. Add to that voice acting that will constantly make you cringe and cutscenes that go on for way too long and you'll find yourself less than inclined to care about what's happening in the game. I'm all for cutscenes of just dialogue normally, but when its bad actors repeating the same information over and over for five minutes, I can't help but wish for a single text sentence to appear on screen to tell me what I needed to know. The framing of the cutscenes is also suspect, as it never looks anything close to natural, but rather makes it look like a bunch of puppets are being controlled on a barren set. Overall, as you can probably guess, the presentation needs work.
Thankfully, the combat is much more interesting than the presentation of the story. Rogue Galaxy features real-time combat, something common in current RPGs but still fairly unusual for PS2 RPGs (I know that there are others out there, but most of the big name RPGs for that generation were turn-based). Although the level design can be a bit bland, Rogue Galaxy somewhat requires it because the battles are seemlessly integrated. This means that when you encounter a random enemy, you fight them exactly where you are on the game map. Characters have two attacks, one of which can be charged up to break an enemy's shield. These attacks are dependent on what character you are using, as some have a melee and a long ranged attack while others simply have two long ranged attacks. Most enemies are taken down by some combination of the two, although there are some that require special tactics, such as having to jump on them before attacking or requiring a charged up hit to break their shield. It helps break the combat up a bit, although it is oddly restricting sometimes, namely with a certain enemy type that requires you to hit them with a specific blaster before being able to do any damage. This becomes an annoyance because there isn't a quick way to change blasters; instead, you must go through a menu in order to select the correct weapon. It slows the combat down way too much, but thankfully these enemies come up very seldom.
You have the option to switch to any character that's in the battle, which can help bring a bit of variety to the combat. My only complaint with this is that the main character is the most fun to use by far, which inadvertantly limits the amount of creativity that you want to practice. Still, the ability to change it up every once in a while is nice. Additionally, every character has a unique "revelation" (read "flow") chart that they use to gain new abilities. These charts are filled with items found throughout the gameworld and offer an interesting way of customizing your characters, as characters will often require the same items to develop further. This forces you to choose who you want to develop more and in what way. This is all done in tandem with a traditional leveling system that increases your basic stats based on your current level. Characters not being used gain 3/4 of the experience of active members, always making them viable options.
Weapons that you have equipped gain experience every battle, and once an item has been sufficiently used, you have the option of combining it with another weapon of the same type. It sounds simple, but offers a nice incentive to not use the same weapon over and over as well as getting you excited about new equipment more often as you're just as likely to create a great new weapon in the middle of a dungeon as you are to buy one in a shop. The factory system does not work quite as well, however. Part way through the game, you gain access to a factory in which you can create new items using items found around the world, but the process is needlessly overcomplicated to the point where you need to insure every piece of machinery is connected to a power outlet. The system has the potential to be interesting, but the minutia involved diminishes the rewards.
Rogue Galaxy is disappointing more because it had the potential to be a lot better. The presentation is by far the biggest offender, operating under the assumption that the player won't mind lazy cliches. I know that most RPGs are far from unique, but it takes a particularly uninspired one to make me take notice at how unoriginal it is. The combat system, on the other hand, is great, and it seems to be where most of the effort went. While I recognize making every cutscene compelling is tough in a game over 30 hours, I've done just fine with Xenosaga, which featured hours more of cutscenes with better results. If you're looking for a decent action RPG for the PS2, Rogue Galaxy will do fine, but don't expect to be wowed.
Overall: 7.4
Recommended Price: $5.99
0 comments:
Post a Comment