Kathy Lin

Let the madness begin! More updates to follow, I’m sure. So far, the game has been really enjoyable. I tried taking on the dinosaur and mutant wolf (Tellstra?) by myself, which maybe wasn’t the wisest thing to do. The dinosaur attacked once for ~650 damage which pretty much killed me 5 times over. I was doing pretty well with the wolf until it called more wolves.

Anyway, my only complaint about the game so far is the sound that plays when something is near. An exclamation point is displayed about your head, and at the same time a noise is heard. However, the action can’t actually be done (opening a chest, moving a switch) until you move a little bit closer to what caused the exclamation point to appear. Many times I’ve heard the noise and just pressed X by reflex, only to open the Battle Menu.

But, that’s a small gripe compared to a game that’s been great so far! The graphics and storyline can only be described as a Star Wars meets Lord of the Rings hybrid. There are fantastic airships that sort of look like sailing ships but fire laser cannons, etc. But on the ground, the forces fight mainly with armor and Middle Ages type weapons: swords, maces, bows, staves, etc. Personally, I’m ok with that. Leveling up a blaster feels different than leveling up a sword or bow.

Few more observerations: Square Enix seems to have changed the names of the spells slightly (yet again) and the enemies no longer drop gil (or gold/gp if you’re old school). They drop loot, which you can chose to sell. I haven’t yet encountered a use for most items so I have sold them. It would be a real pain in the ass if later the only way to upgrade to Ultima Weapon or something similar would be to have 99 of some item.