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SaGa FRONTIER —by Eri Izawa
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Let's start with the bad news, SaGa FRONTIER for the Sony PlayStation: SaGa FRONTIER looks
like a noble attempt to create an RPG game by
providing interweaving story lines and non-linear
plots. Unfortunately, it does neither well.The core idea behind this SaGa game (a continuation
of the Romancing SaGa games that have, until
now, not made it to the US.) is flexibility. The
player can choose from one of seven main characters
and a number of different sub-plots (depending on the
character), and work toward achieving the particular
character's final goal. Along the way, other
characters can be recruited, including some of the
other main characters. Once one character's adventure
has been completed, the player can play another story
line with another character.Sounds great in principle. However, the
"non-linearity" is poorly implemented. For example,
since adventure areas can be accessed by different
people at different stages of development, most
encounters change to match the characters' level.
Not a bad concept, except it's so poorly balanced
that you may find your party unexpectedly wiped out
in what should've been an easy area. Thus, saving
frequently is required.Another example: Say you're playing the
character Emelia, and you recruit another main
character like Asellus along the way. You spend hours
painstakingly raising their stats, and finally finish
Emelia's story. Then you start up Asellus's story.
Her stats are all back to square one, as are all the
other characters'. And you'll wind up adventuring in
some of the very same places Emelia adventured,
"exploring" the very same corridors. And so on with
the other five characters. "Tedious" and
"repetitious" come to mind.Finally, the plots tend to be dissatisfying.
Lute, for example, has an extremely loose plot.
Emelia's plot divulges very little information and at
least one of the endings is highly ambiguous. And
although the world provides an interesting mix of high
tech and magic, too little of its history is given and
the rich potential background seems wasted in the
sparse plots.Overall, SaGa
FRONTIER's innovations fail to inspire; it's
one of the least engaging RPGs to come out for the
PlayStation since BEYOND THE
BEYOND. Some people may still enjoy it, however.Rating: ** out of 4 |
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BREATH OF FIRE III —by Eri Izawa
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Now for the better news, BREATH OF FIRE III for the Sony PlayStation: In contrast, BREATH OF FIRE III provides a classic role-playing
experience with smaller, but more effective, innovations than SaGa's.
"Classic" in the sense that it'll be familiar to console RPG veterans:
our hero is a boy with secret potential (in this case he's a dragon),
who must adventure through a vast world and grow physically,
mentally, and emotionally. Along the way he makes friends with some
thieves, a princess, an inventor, and other such familiar types of
characters.Though the world uses flat 2D sprites and has the old-fashioned
painted look, it's actually 3D. It's possible to shift the view
around somewhat and see much of what's behind walls and trees, making
this more immersive than many other games in this genre. (In fact,
looking around corners is vital to the game.) Each character also has
a unique voice used in combat scenes, which adds to the immersive
quality.BREATH OF FIRE III also contains side features such as a fishing game,
which is a non-vital but fun way to earn special items. Basically,
your character can stop at any of a number of fishing spots and try to
catch varying types of sea creatures. It's a well-designed little
diversion.BREATH OF FIRE III's drawbacks are, as with other games of this type,
the linearity of the plot and the frequency of combat - though it has
the bonus that traveling long distances does not subject one to random
combat. Aside from these flaws, though, this is a well-done game that
meets or exceeds the standards one expects of a console RPG. And be sure
to watch for the ULTRAMAN
 Rating: *** out of 4 |
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