Record of Agarest War (aka Agarest Senki Reappearance) [XBOX/PS3]

[EOJ]

I posted comments about the original JP release of Agarest Senki about 3 years ago -> here. I've just played through the US Version of the updated Xbox 360 "Reappearance" version, and I am so very impressed with this game. 

The main improvement over the PS3 original is that the stupid plain checkerboard battle field is gone, and now you fight in actual varied locales. I gave up on the PS3 version after about 10 hours, as it didn't feel like a complete game. This X360 version has fixed nearly all of my complaints. I think Aksys' localization is very well done, and having the original Japanese voices is a huge plus for me.

Have any of you played this, and if so, what are your thoughts? For some reason this reminds me a lot of Dragon Force on the Saturn (one of my faves) - with the "talk" scenes, map, and so on, even though the fighting systems were very different between the two games.

I love the artwork, the story is engaging, the "bride/generation" system is really cool (more games should do stuff like this) and the battles are lots of fun. The only thing I dislike is the X360 version doesn't show you your play time (not even in the save). A minor quibble, but I don't like when developers remove the option for something as simple as this.

Oh, and the "really naughty" LE is so very embarrassing - I feel strongly compelled to hide the box from the sight of other human beings (especially my wife - who would not be offended, but would rather delight in making fun of me for it). I've put the box up on ebay (with all the goofy "LE" items inside) in the hopes I can sell it off pronto. I bought it because it's actually cheaper than the SE on amazon.com, for whatever weird reason. Maybe that wasn't a wise move.

[njiska]

I tried really hard to get into this game as SRPGs tend to be the only ones I really enjoy, but unfortunately the game is plagued by forced grinding. The artwork is great, the characters are interesting, the original voice work is fantastic, but I just cannot stand the feeling of a lack of balance. I gave up somewhere around the end of the first generation. The link system in particular seems quite unfair. It takes pretty much every character I have linked together to take down a lot of enemies, but two or three of them in a link can absolutely rape me. Doubly so during boss battles.

Maybe some day when I have a lot of patience and time to kill I'll go back and try again.

Oh and as for it being embarrassing. Check out this unboxing video I made. I think i was more prepared than the average person (Ignore my mis-pronunciation of the title, i didn't feel like re-recording it.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoRmo5HBYNU

[EOJ]

Nice vid.  

I love the battle system, but I also cheat a bit on this as I too was put off by the boring grinding on the PS3 original. I bought the 160MS point DLC "Legendary Adventurer Pack" on the marketplace which gives you some killer weapons unattainable in the game (the Tenma sword is brutal). I can plow through every fight in Generation 1, with zero grinding. But, it's still fun, as now the main challenge is trying to beat every screen of enemies in 1 turn. If I have to go to 2 (I've never had to go to 3), I probably messed up somewhere, and sometimes I'll restart and try again. It becomes sort of like a puzzle game in this regard. Well worth the $2 as it makes the game 100x more fun.

When you beat a screen of enemies in one turn, you get an S rank, which greatly increases your received gold, EXP, and other stuff, making you level up faster, and further reduces the need to grind. Even an A rank (beating a stage in 2 turns) gives a nice boost in this regard.

I've never done this for any other game - this was an experiment and the results turned out to be favorable. The game is mainly about the story anyway, so reducing the fights and making them quicker is a plus in my book.

[njiska]

Well that's certainly one way of doing it. It just that this whole grinding/unbalanced play thing has started to become a real pet peeve of mine. So many great RPGs come out of Japan with brilliant stories, but I can never bring myself to play through because of the grind. If I wanted to play something 100 hours long I'd much rather have a full retelling of the entire Tale of Genji than I would spend 82 hours jerking away in the grass and 8 hours watching HD cinemas of teens in battle.

At least you seemed to have found a solution with the legendary items pack. Though I hate to think that buying an add-on in necessary to enjoy a title, I may give it a try as it's the only to experience the story without becoming mind-numbingly bored.

[EOJ]

It's so much fun - I'm completely addicted. And like I said they aren't items you can get in the game, which is neat. It's basically good if you want to start out the game as a super powered dude that destroys everything. I've heard that as generations go on, these weapons will no longer be the strongest in the game, so things should even out by the end of the game, preventing it from being a total pushover from beginning to end.

There are tons of other DLC packs on there, with different weapon sets, but I think what I've bought is plenty, and I don't want to spend more than a couple bucks on DLC like this. I bought the game through amazon, with no sales tax. So I consider this DLC my sales tax. 

[Danza]

I have the Aksys release on 360 as well. I've really enjoyed it as well and think the battle system is really good. It kinda sucks it has gone unnoticed by what seems to be a lot of gamers.

I'll have to check out the DLC. I'm in Australia and haven't set up a US XBL account yet  Seems like a good reason to set one up.

Hehe, yeah the LE box and the stuff it comes with is rather embarassing! I've had a number of friends commend on it with strange expressions on their faces.

[EOJ]

Just finished the 1st gen, starting the 2nd. Still loving this game, it feels like some Saturn or PC-FX game in hi res. I dreamed about a game like this back in 1994.

Anyway, I chose Fyuria for the 1st gen wife, she seems to make a good Ladius for the second gen. I slapped the Tenma sword on him and he's ripping things up, making the game lots of fun.

[EOJ]

I've noticed the translation is taking a dive in the second gen. Lots of cases where the English translation adds a few words, or even an entire line that does not exist in the original Japanese. Less commonly, I notice something in the Japanese that is omitted from the English translation.

A few common examples include the "milord" and "(my) darling" stuff said by a few characters (which isn't in the JP script).

Anyway, doesn't bother me much because I can understand the JP voice track. Just FYI for those interested. Still really enjoying this game! I like it so much I'm currently looking for a decent-priced (sub $70) copy of Agarest Zero for the JP X360 now, which is pretty hard to find!

[EOJ]

I'm halfway through gen 5 now - almost at the end! Good lord this is a long game. I don't like all the battles, but the characters, story, and gameplay are fun, and rather addicting. Once I'm done with this I probably won't play such a lengthy game for awhile. 

[cstle]

Agarest Zero is getting localized too btw if you feel like waiting/can't find a JP copy at a good price No date yet though.