Record of Agarest War, A Return to Classic Turn Based Strategy

Record of Agarest War is a turn based strategy game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  It is quite similar to Final Fantasy Tactics in both the battle system, the world map and story flow.  Many games have departed from this simple, yet fun and strategically rewarding formula, so it’s nice to see a game returning to these roots.  The story follows Leonhardt, who pledges his soul and that of his descendents to the mysterious woman Dyshana in exchange for his life and the power to save others.  He then embarks on a quest to purge evil from the world, as according to Dyshana’s design.

The player moves along points on the world map.  Some points have events that progress the story, some have shops that allow the player to purchase items (more on that later), but most of the points are simple battle spaces.  By moving to these points, the player is forced into a battle, and after winning is allowed to move to the next point.  By completing events the player is able to open more points.

The coolest thing about this game is that it contains 5 generations within it.  During each generation, there will be three female characters (many of them are clad in extremely… skimpy clothing.  Just a warning.) that the main character will curry favor with.  He is given many choices to make, and depending on what he chooses, a heroine’s affection may increase, and another’s could decrease.  At the end of the generation, the player chooses one of the three women (The woman has to like him in order to be chosen) and depending on which girl chosen, the main character in the next generation will look slightly different and have different stats.

Combat is a lot of fun and very rewarding.  It takes place on a simple grid, though the player has access to different “fields” that can alter the shape and properties of the grid.  (There are no different levels.)  One of the main points of battle is “linking”.  Each character has different link spaces arranged around them.  When another character stands on one of these spaces they are considered “linked”.  It is possible to create link chains.  Linked characters are able to attack together, opening up new possibilities and the ability to link skills together to create more powerful “arts” attacks.

Weapons, armor, and skills are a bit complicated in this game.  Before most items can be bought at the item shop, they must be crafted by the blacksmith.  In order to craft an item, raw materials, many of which are obtained from monsters are required.  Skills require the same process, but are usually a bit more difficult to make than weapons and armor.  It can be frustrating if there is one component you don’t have for an item you really want.  Most weapons, armor, etc. are unavailable at the beginning of the game.  The player has to get books that unlock certain weapons at the blacksmith’s.  This can be extremely frustrating as it takes a while to get most of the books, and so you mostly just have to make do with what you can find.  Plus there are item enhancements to deal with.  At the end of each battle, the player receives exp, ep, tp, sometimes pp, and gold. (Like I said, it’s complicated.)

When a character levels up, they get points that they are able to spend on the five different traits: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck.  This allows room for a lot of character customization.  Of course, each stat requires a different number of points to increase.  For instance, a character better suited to speed could take 2 points to increase agility and 4 points to increase vitality.

This game is a lot of fun and contains an amazing amount of content.  New game plus is available.  The player is also able to catch monsters in battle, combine them, trade them for items, and even use them in battle.  There are about 140 titles that the player can earn for completing different objectives in the game.  I’ve spent well over 50 hours and I’m not even close to having done half of what’s available in this game.

A lot of effort went into this game and there is a lot of content in it.  If you’re a fan of final fantasy tactics, fire emblem, or just need a game to dump hundreds of hours into, then I this game is for you.  Crafting can be a bit frustrating and complicated at times, but it’s not a game wrecker by any means.  You get used to it.  I would highly recommend this game.

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