Suikoden Tierkreis
Level 28 and enjoying it so far. I just looove it when I have to break into several parties (favorite part in FF6) and that happens plenty of times in this game. The first time I had to do actual battle with my different parties...I only had enough characters to divide my parties into one party of 3 (main character + two others), one party of two (both reasonably strong), and another party of 3 (...they were all kind of weak). The last party was so difficult. -__-;; Almost died several times, but afterward, they leveled up like...8 levels. I've also been doing a lot of side quests, but one of them is still not doable at the moment since I don't have enough female characters. I need to send a party of female characters to find a guy...
Graphics
The opening sequence is a little blurry, and later anime cutscenes are like that too (but!! anime cutscenes! *flails*) When the characters speak, there are anime drawings of them with different expressions. Each town/dungeon/special place has a detailed and crisp drawing of it shown in the upper screen. Battles and everything else (like enemies, the character you control) is 3D, which doesn't look all that great.
Sound
Some cool music here and there. The music after winning battles is quite nostalgic. The characters' seiyuu are great, though the seiyuu for the extra characters amuse me. Once, I was in a town and one of the villagers, a young man, had the deepest voice ever.
Battles
You can only use up to four characters (I wish we could use more) and one supporting character. Often, the storyline will require you to use certain characters. There's a front row and a back row you can place your characters, and only characters with middle range or long range weapons are useful in the back. All characters have "hoshi no shirushi" specials, which uses PP. Battles are pretty straightforward and are pointless when your level is close to the monsters since then they give next to no experience then. Monsters give tons of experience when your level is way below the monsters', pretty much like previous Suikodens. You earn no money from battles. You only earn money from trading items and from completing job offers. Oh, and of course, the combination attacks~. I've only seen a few so far, but they're neat.
Map
The first level was deceiving!! I thought there was a world map. It turned out that I was already in one of the points on the map and not actually traveling through the world map on foot. All locations are points on the world map, and each place takes a certain amount of days to travel to. Sometimes when you take on job offers, they require a certain number of days to pass. Sleeping at an inn causes one day to pass too. Inside the towns, you get a list of places you can choose from, so you can't walk around town either. ):
Storyline
At the point where I am, things are slowly starting to come together, but near the beginning, it wasn't all that interesting. The Hero finds a mysterious book that gave him and his friends some special powers and memories of a fight. He then finds out about other worlds, gets into a fight with an organization that is crazy over "hitotsu no michi" and predestined paths. The Empire lends the Hero some help against the organization...and I guess both the Empire and the Hero are trying to find out more about the mysterious books. Yes, there are more than one. I don't know if I can use wi-fi at this point, though I have no one's game to visit even if I could use it.
Characters
The Hero is your typical brash teenager(?) who has a big heart. He helps everyone in need and doesn't bat an eye when he meets humanoid animals (meanwhile, everyone else is freaking out). He's adopted and can't seem to make use of the doors to the other worlds. You get a stronghold pretty early (which you get to name...I just named it "Castle.") and get to invite/recruit people. So far I have an inn, a weapon seller, a doctor...
...super long summary to come next. =P
Graphics
The opening sequence is a little blurry, and later anime cutscenes are like that too (but!! anime cutscenes! *flails*) When the characters speak, there are anime drawings of them with different expressions. Each town/dungeon/special place has a detailed and crisp drawing of it shown in the upper screen. Battles and everything else (like enemies, the character you control) is 3D, which doesn't look all that great.
Sound
Some cool music here and there. The music after winning battles is quite nostalgic. The characters' seiyuu are great, though the seiyuu for the extra characters amuse me. Once, I was in a town and one of the villagers, a young man, had the deepest voice ever.
Battles
You can only use up to four characters (I wish we could use more) and one supporting character. Often, the storyline will require you to use certain characters. There's a front row and a back row you can place your characters, and only characters with middle range or long range weapons are useful in the back. All characters have "hoshi no shirushi" specials, which uses PP. Battles are pretty straightforward and are pointless when your level is close to the monsters since then they give next to no experience then. Monsters give tons of experience when your level is way below the monsters', pretty much like previous Suikodens. You earn no money from battles. You only earn money from trading items and from completing job offers. Oh, and of course, the combination attacks~. I've only seen a few so far, but they're neat.
Map
The first level was deceiving!! I thought there was a world map. It turned out that I was already in one of the points on the map and not actually traveling through the world map on foot. All locations are points on the world map, and each place takes a certain amount of days to travel to. Sometimes when you take on job offers, they require a certain number of days to pass. Sleeping at an inn causes one day to pass too. Inside the towns, you get a list of places you can choose from, so you can't walk around town either. ):
Storyline
At the point where I am, things are slowly starting to come together, but near the beginning, it wasn't all that interesting. The Hero finds a mysterious book that gave him and his friends some special powers and memories of a fight. He then finds out about other worlds, gets into a fight with an organization that is crazy over "hitotsu no michi" and predestined paths. The Empire lends the Hero some help against the organization...and I guess both the Empire and the Hero are trying to find out more about the mysterious books. Yes, there are more than one. I don't know if I can use wi-fi at this point, though I have no one's game to visit even if I could use it.
Characters
The Hero is your typical brash teenager(?) who has a big heart. He helps everyone in need and doesn't bat an eye when he meets humanoid animals (meanwhile, everyone else is freaking out). He's adopted and can't seem to make use of the doors to the other worlds. You get a stronghold pretty early (which you get to name...I just named it "Castle.") and get to invite/recruit people. So far I have an inn, a weapon seller, a doctor...
...super long summary to come next. =P