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PlayStation 3, Reviews

Ragnarok Odyssey Ace [PlayStation 3] – Review

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As I mostly play older video games, or at least, few new-release games, I feel like my reviews should include a preface on why I decided to play what I did. There’s generally a logical through line; like how purchasing an Xbox 360 compatible arcade stick prompted me to play so many of the shoot ‘em ups on that console, or how the announcement of a spiritual successor to the Suikoden series finally encouraged me to start the first entry.

The UI on the PlayStation 3 version wasn’t as cramped as this Vita screenshot, but there was nonetheless a lot going on.

In the case of Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, there were a couple of reasons, despite the fact I had no experience with its source material. Dating back to the core game’s release on the PlayStation Vita in 2012, its vibrant anime-inspired settings and visuals seemed to be right up my alley. It also appeared to be an action-RPG in the vein of Phantasy Star Online, one of the most formative games in terms of my taste. And it was developed by Game Arts, the Tokyo developer behind a pair of influential RPG series: Lunar and Grandia, the latter being one of my favorites. From afar, this seemed to be a game tailor-made for me. But alas… it wasn’t.

As I mentioned, I assumed Ragnarok Odyssey Ace would have more in common with Phantasy Star Online than it actually did. In that game, I spent hundreds of hours leveling characters, replaying stages on harder difficulties for better loot drops, and powering up rare weapons, without getting bored. This game turned out to be slightly less of an RPG, however. As someone who still hasn’t played an entry in the Monster Hunter series, it seems to have more in common with that style of game, which makes sense as Ragnarok Odyssey was originally released exclusively on the Vita. There was a market for similar games on that platform, especially in Japan, when the hugely popular Monster Hunter series jumped from Sony’s handheld devices to Nintendo’s.

Although once in quests there was little exposition, there was loads of it in the castle town. The writing was enjoyable, but there were walls and walls of text to button through in order to select a fetch quest.

That said, structurally, it was actually quite similar to Phantasy Star Online. After selecting a character class and customizing my avatar, I undertook a variety of odd jobs from a quest counter. They were mindless kill x number of this foe, or collect x number of this drop, with some narrative bits thrown in every now and then. Based on the South Korean MMORPG Ragnarok Online, which in turn was based on the manwha by Lee yung-jin, Ragnarok Odyssey was set in a fantasy world inspired by Norse mythology. Accordingly, every dozen or so quests would include a boss fight against a massive creature of Norse lore, or I’d have to protect our little castle town from attacking giants.

So the mission design wasn’t engaging; I just hacked and slashed my way from room to room until I had met the objective. Back at town, I’d sell some loot, see if there were any improvements I could make to my gear, and repeat. It was quite boring, which honestly, PSO could be too. But comparing the two, it felt like there was more to do in PSO, that there was always something else I was working on besides the main quest line. And really, the only thing this game was lacking is a character level. Simple as it sounds, something like a character level can go a long way when you’re driven to see “the numbers go up;” that is, the damage I dealt.

Further exploring the various crafting systems would probably yield the power I needed.

Despite that, I trucked along with the game for about twenty hours before burning out. I wasn’t really enjoying myself, but seeing as I was already about two-thirds of the way through, momentum took over. Ever the optimist, I also held on thinking things might change, that something might click for me and I’d get it. Still thinking optimistically, I’d like to believe that moment may have eventually come. Ultimately though, I ran into a difficult stretch of quests that I just couldn’t seem to overcome.

Like its influences, this was a game designed with cooperative multiplayer in mind, but whose campaign was also playable entirely alone. I didn’t have too much difficulty in those first twenty hours, thanks to a trio of chances per quest, a couple of AI partners, and a general lack of challenge. I’m sure there’s a way for me to best the bosses that eventually me back, but I just couldn’t figure out what that was. I tried different classes (which admittedly, I wasn’t experienced with), different load outs (which admittedly, probably weren’t well synergized), and… well actually, the answer was probably to grind out material drops and explore the crafting system (which admittedly, I hadn’t up to that point). Up against that wall though, disappointed with what the game and just straight up not enjoying myself, it was easier to just throw in the towel, momentum be damned.

And so, a playthrough that started with so much promise petered out before the credits rolled.

First Impressions, Nintendo DS

Avalon Code – First Impressions

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Avalon Code wallpaper from the official site.

Avalon Code’s premise is initially, very awe-inspiring. The world is going to end soon, but there is a book, The Book of Prophecy, that can capture anything and will remake whatever it contains. Once captured, you can adjust the properties of that thing, be it a person, a key or an enemy and alter it to solve puzzles or assist in battles. Most everything related to The Book of Prophecy is fun and unique; however the actual gameplay was tedious and turned me off after a few hours.

With The Book of Prophecy you are tasked to scan anything that you possibly can. The theory is that the book will aid in the creation of the new world and remake whatever’s inside. But this also adds a clever puzzle element to the game. Whenever you scan something in, it gets its own page. Each thing has a nine by nine grid which contains traits that make that thing up. So a flower for instance might have something forest or nature related and a fire creature might have an evil trait as well as something fire related. This led to some clever, albeit simple, puzzles early on like having to attach a forest element to a key to open a lock. These traits come in different shapes and piecing them in is reminiscent of Tetris. Every time something is added or subtracted, the page is reassessed and it leads to a short load time, which can add up when just experimenting and ultimately turned me away from changing the properties of anything I came across, unless it was necessary

Fighting a Dire Bat in Avalon Code, notice The Book of Prophecy on the lower screen and the info it holds about the enemy.

Outside of The Book of Prophecy you control a male or female character and travel between towns and dungeons, interacting with NPCs and fighting monsters. Rather than a turn-based battle system, Matrix Software opted for real-time action, which makes sense with The Book of Prophecy. Whenever I saw an enemy I generally scanned it in and then began to adjust the enemy’s traits, looking for something that would drop it’s hit points and then I’d attack; the game will pause when you’re using The Book of Prophecy, which takes up the bottom screen. Combat is simple, attacking with either your left or right hand, and enemies respawned as soon they died which discouraged me to even bother fighting them after a few times.

As far as I got, each dungeon progressed the same. They were divided into individual rooms which had tasks and time limits. You were given a task, such as light all candles, and once completed, the door to the next room would open; there were interesting tasks that required The Book of Prophecy but the majority of them were simple. Ultimately this made dungeons feel like a collection of minigames and this turned me off more than anything else I saw in the game.

I only clocked in three hours so I wasn’t able to see what Avalon Code has to offer, but it didn’t hold my interest in that short amount of time. The game is backed by an interesting gameplay mechanic that sets it apart from other games, but Avalon Code’s gameplay became tedious quickly. If it counts for anything though, I am still looking forward to playing more of Avalon Code at some point.